ORGANISERS OF the Oxford Farming Conference have responded to the latest Covid surge by cancelling in-person attendance at the 2022 event.

Expressing their 'deep sadness' at the decision, the OFC council stressed that the event was the culmination of 12 months of work bringing together 'amazing' speakers from all over the world – so the digital package will still go ahead, with the addition of the science lecture, debate and fringes running online from January 5 to 7.

Joint Co-Chairs, Barbara Bray and Sarah Mukherjee said: “Like many other organisations, we have been monitoring announcements and developments across the UK and internationally on the Omicron variant. Delegate safety has always been our primary concern.

“Whilst we are confident that the measures we had put in place to safeguard delegates were robust, the groundswell of concern nationally and internationally, combined with the lack of clarity about regulations likely in the weeks ahead, made this decision inevitable.

“The OFC is in good financial health, but we must face the fact that this decision will create a very large deficit for us, as a small charity that dates back to the 1930s," they added. "However, the decision is the right one to make.”