Speakers announced for popular farmers autumn debate in Harrogate

Practical measures to make day-to-day farming duties safer will be shared by a trio of industry speakers at the Future Farmers of Yorkshire’s Autumn Debate at the Great Yorkshire Showground.

With farming remaining one of the most dangerous professions in the UK, helpful insights will be shared by farmer and farm safety campaigner Jane Gurney MBE, farmer and pesticide compliance app developer Sam Hoste and agricultural health and safety manager Rhiannon Wilson.

The Future Farmers Autumn Debate is open to all in agriculture and takes place at Pavilions of Harrogate at the Great Yorkshire Showground on Monday 23 November, opening with a free supper and networking at 6pm.

Joe Seels, farmer and Chair of Future Farmers of Yorkshire, said: “Future Farmers is a fantastic network of people from all across the agricultural industry.

“It’s not that often that farmers can get together outside of work, so it is great to come along and connect with different people from different sectors.

“As an industry, we know health and safety is important but there are still too many accidents on farms, and so we think it’s very important to highlight the practical things we can all be doing to reduce them.

“We have a great panel of people speaking on the topic, each with their own interesting insights, who will be able to answer questions about specific farming situations.

“It’s well-worth coming along to hear what they have to say.”

Jane Gurney is the sixth generation at the family farm on the Bedfordshire-Cambridgeshire borders.

She is the founder of the Tilly Trailer Pass scheme, an inspection, service and certification for all agricultural trailers to meet the legally required standard.

The scheme was set up to give young farmers and operators a voice during their harvest jobs by achieving a UK-wide standard of machinery safety, and has grown into a UK-wide initiative, with thousands of trailers submitted annually to a network of authorised dealerships.

Sam Hoste farms in North Yorkshire and secured an Innovate UK ADOPT grant to develop Agrillo, a software platform and app to manage on-farm plant protection products that can help farmers reduce paperwork, improve compliance and gain greater visibility of the products stored on farm.

Agrillo is now used by agronomists and farmers across the UK. Sam also owns Quantech Solutions, a consultancy to assist startup agri-tech companies to grow, with a focus on livestock innovations.

Rhiannon Wilson is Health and Safety Office Manager at CXCS Group Ltd which advises farmers on agricultural regulations.

Coming from a dairy farming background in Herefordshire, farming has always been a big part of Rhiannon's life and she has a real passion for agricultural health and safety.

All three speakers will discuss the theme ‘Heads Up: Practical Steps for a Safe and Productive Farm’ at the Autumn Debate, which will be delivered alongside the Yorkshire Rural Support Network and is sponsored by McClarrons to explore everyday actions that can make a real difference to the safety, wellbeing and efficiency of farm businesses.

Sally Conner, a farmer and Business Development Executive in McClarrons’ Farm Team will chair the panel, while guests can claim two BASIS points for attending the Autumn Debate.

To book a place, visit https://tickets.yas.co.uk/sales/events/futurefarmers2026