The UK’s main arable event, Cereals 2019, kicks off on June 12 for a two-day run and it has confirmed that 350 companies will fill the trade stand space.

Being run by a new management team of Comexposium and the Prysm Group, the event returns to an old airfield next to land at Boothby Graffoe, in Lincolnshire, on June 12 and 13

Confirmed to be in attendance is Robert Goodwill, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, who will be a keynote speaker the event’s first day in the AHDB Theatre at 9.30am. He has been a farmer since 1979 with 250 acres of land near Malton, Yorkshire, besides holding various posts in British politics.

Cereals 2019 will feature crop demonstration sites, spraying drones, debates, working machinery and demonstrating electronics and new technology. Spanning over 64ha on a working farm and expected to attract more than 20,000 visitors, it is one of the most significant farming exhibitions in the UK.

A number of new features have been introducing for this year, including two new seminar theatres and a bigger live demo area for displaying machinery.

The Cereals AHDB Theatre programme for the first day, includes a morning keynote and panel discussion entitled ‘Preparing for change – what’s on the horizon?’ This session will provide insights from industry experts Minette Batters, president of the English NFU; Tom Hind, chief strategy officer with AHDB; Mike Holland, a consultant and advisor with the Agricultural Law Association; Robert Sheasby, chief executive of AIC; and Paul Temple, AHDB’s board and cereals and oilseeds sector chair.

That afternoon, Andree Defois, president of Tallage and managing editor of Stratégie Grains, will present an outlook for the global arable industry over the next five years. Tallage is a leading agro-economic research and analysis bureau and consultancy specialising in European and world markets with main areas of expertise in grains, oilseeds and plant protein markets.

Also, an afternoon panel, moderated by Martin Grantley-Smith, Cereals and Oilseeds director with AHDB, will discuss methods of increasing farm business productivity and benchmarking – speakers include Susannah Bolton, director of KE, AHDB; Oliver McEntyre, national strategy director for Barclays; and Elizabeth Warham, head of agri-tech at the Department for International Trade.

Highlights for the second day include a global grain market forecast plus a domestic market outlook for 2019/20 with area and production scenarios presented by Amy Reynolds, an economist at the International Grains Council.

This keynote will be followed by a panel discussing ‘How resilient is your business?’ which will try to answer the questions around where the UK government now stands in regards to the global grain markets and what needs to be monitored for the turbulent times ahead.

Closing the theatre’s events will be a panel dedicated to integrated pest management with speakers including Emma Hamer, a senior plant health advisor; Dr Jon Knight, AHDB; Neil Paveley, from ADAS; and Sean Sparling, chairman of the consultants body, AICC.

Opening times:

Wednesday, June 12 8am-6pm

Thursday, June 13 8am-5pm

Car parks open at 6.00am

with free tea and coffee available until 8.00am, when

the gates open.

SatNav address:

The Old Rocket Site,

Heath Lane,

Boothby Graffoe,

Lincolnshire,

LN5 0AS.