OFC & Trinity come together for farming’s new future

Following a competitive selection process, Trinity Natural Capital Group has been selected as the Oxford Farming Conference’s first headline sponsor.

Farmers and land managers have been encouraged to look beyond carbon and the current uncertainties of agricultural markets and farm for a new future. Those who take control of the natural capital in their care and work collaboratively to realise its true value have the brightest prospects, according to Trinity Natural Capital Group.

As headline sponsors of the 2023 Oxford Farming Conference, Trinity is keen to ensure every farmer has access to information that will challenge and inspire them towards positive change, says Executive Chairman Dr Hosein Khajeh-Hosseiny.

“We are very excited about the programme that’s coming together for this year’s conference, both online this December and at Oxford itself in the New Year.

“Looking beyond the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and recent extreme weather events, the challenge of feeding nine billion people sustainably against a backdrop of climate change remains. But farmers are individuals with phenomenal ability. Given the right tools, the very best science and through sharing ideas and what they learn, they will soon be farming a new future, producing incredible results.”

One factor contributing to Trinity’s selection as the headline sponsor was the close alignment between this year’s theme, ‘farming for a new future’, and Trinity’s own optimistic vision for UK farming.

Three pillars of Trinity Natural Capital Group

Oxford Farming Conference is being headline sponsored by Trintiy Agtech’s parent company, Trinity Natural Capital Group. The group consists of three independent but highly complementary companies, which are discussed below.

Sandy by Trinity AgTech is a Smart Natural Capital Navigator. It’s a software tool that helps you take control of all the natural assets in your care, explains Trinity AgTech Business Development Director Anna Woodley.

““But it’s unlike other carbon-accounting tools., Sandy calculates, measures and optimises not only carbon emissions and sequestration, but also biodiversity and water protection. And it does this across all farming enterprises, with scenario planning to understand which actions are best to boost business resilience and environmental performance.”

This allows all farmers to seize the opportunities as increasing societal awareness around natural capital creates new potential income streams, she says. These include carbon trading, biodiversity net gain, diversification, water quality, and value-added produce.

Operating independently of Trinity AgTech, Trinity Natural Capital Markets is a trading platform for carbon credits. Those credits generated by Sandy pass seamlessly to NCM, which also offers additional biodiversity and water protection co-benefits, notes NCM Managing Director Juan Palomares.

“Importantly, NCM complements food security and doesn’t require farmers to take land out of production to trade carbon or benefit from biodiversity net gain. It’s flexible, with the freedom to participate on your own or bundle carbon credits with other farms and sell them in cluster groups. And we are creating a Super Standard to ensure credits generated are compliant with different methodologies. This brings confidence to buyers and certainty to farmers that the credits are robust,” he points out.

Trinity Global Farm Pioneers is a new platform that brings farmers together with researchers and other innovators from all over the world. It creates a space for farmers to discuss and exchange ideas and find new ways of working, explains Director of Knowledge Exchange Dr Emily Pope. “But most of all it’s about sharing experiences and learning from one another,” she says.

GFP is building a library of information with links to a variety of institutions including the Harper Adams School of Sustainable Food and Farming. “GFP is a place for the curious mind to collaborate on projects with others and discuss solutions for sustainable agriculture,” adds Emily.

Hosein, Anna, Juan and Emily, along with other members of the Trinity team, will be at the Oxford Farming Conference on 4-6 January 2023, taking part in discussions and debates around Farming a New Future. The team will be sharing ideas and learnings in the run-up to the conference, which includes a fringe meeting at the online event on 8 December, and welcome enquiries on how to draw maximum value from all aspects of your natural capital.