Chairman’s Report

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT FOR 2021

CHRIS GRAF GROTE NSCH

It is my privilege to report on our activities in an extraordinary year for the Trust. As I write, we have just awarded 18 scholarships for 2022 and had the first in-person get-together of the 2021 scholars. They are now beginning their Nuffield journeys in earnest and, judging by the enthusiasm and camaraderie will be a great year group. Despite the on-going vagaries of Covid, we had good applications for 2022 and I hope both year groups will impress you when you meet them at the conference.

Business as usual, you might think. Not so for our 2020 scholars who took the brunt of worldwide restrictions when just embarking on their travels. It is tough for them to get back into their scholarship agenda when much has changed in their personal and professional circumstances over the last 18 months. Much can be done on Zoom or Teams virtually in preparation and followup. However, ‘smelling the coffee’ remains the essential and real part of our scholarships. And it might just give you that light-bulb moment when you suddenly find out what its all about. After hundreds of reports, our senior Editor Anne Beckett Hon NSch is retiring. Her dedication and scholar support, in time and thought over so many years is immeasurable, and we all owe her a great debt of gratitude. I am sure she will continue to read all reports with much interest and I thank our remaining Editors, Christine Hill and Alison Blackburn, for their continued engagement.

Working from home and having our usual meetings only virtually has allowed your Board to operate, but also put extra burdens on our office team. Mike Vacher has been determined to uphold all functions and thanks to unstinting support from Poey, his wife; Claire Laidler – our Office Manager; Charlotte Merson – our Alumni Officer; Lindsay Woods – Projects and Membership and Claire Bragg – Accounts; we are in excellent shape going forwards. I thank them all for their commitment, enthusiasm and hard work throughout the year and well beyond the call of duty. I will also include Emily Ball NSch and Kendra Hall 2022 NSch, from our PR agency Reverberate PR in this, who have kept us throughout in the public eye and well to the fore on social media.

I trust you like our new website and its many new and more interactive functions. Please look up the Reports Library, there are some real gems to read from all over the world and many provide an insight into how we might tackle the future challenges in our industry. The links to YouTube and other social media are good for up-to-date sources of information.

Our Regional and Study groups may not have been able to meet in person, but much has gone on virtually. When we got underway again this spring, the get-togethers I’ve attended have had a real buzz. I must also mention David Rose, who as new Trustee initiated the golfing group. By all accounts, this seems to be a great success and they have not just played several rounds already, but also visited other scholars in the process. The new ‘Regenerative Agriculture Group’, Chaired by Tom Chapman and with Vice-Chair Matt Swain, is now incorporating the organic farming and sustainability groups and promises to come up with some interesting meetings.

Thanks to the financial prudence of my predecessors, our finances are in good shape. Our investments went through a serious dip when Covid struck, but have recovered extraordinarily well. Our operating costs are under control and whilst we will not achieve an operating surplus – it has been raining pretty hard – the overall balance sheet has still improved again. I am most grateful to our donors and sponsors for their unwavering support in all we do and thus allowing us to develop further.

Over the last five years under the leadership and chairmanship of Helen Woolley we implemented our Strategic Plan 2017-2021. Office functions were professionalised, a new website established, funds raised and Charlotte Merson engaged as our Alumni Officer. She is our wizard on Zoom and if you have not yet met her, I am sure you will soon.

On these foundations, we are now building Nuffield 100. In 2022, we will celebrate our 75th anniversary and this is a great moment in our history to look further ahead. At the Trustees ‘Away Day’ in August, we started a number of initiatives that build on our core value of ‘Building Knowledge through global experience’ with new scholarships. To serve our industry more comprehensively, we seek to engage the young and learning at one end and research and development at the other; with our traditional farming scholarships at the centre as the ‘doers’. At the young end we are in discussions with the Henry Plumb Foundation to further this and at the R&D end the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust (ECCT), which is much engaged in furthering ‘Science into Practise’ and one of our major sponsors. You will have noticed ECCT as our new Title Sponsor and I must thank Chairman Paul May and his Trustees for their continued much valued engagement and support.

To complement this and looking ahead, we are launching ‘Friends of Nuffield’ to help raise funds for operations. David Gardner, our Trustee leading this initiative, will talk about it at the Conference. As our alumni, you can also help and please get in touch, if you know of any past scholar whom we might not have been able to reach for whatever reason. The 2021 CSC in Norfolk was postponed to March 2022 and will now include both scholar years, 2021 and 2022. Whilst the numbers involved do not make this easy, we are getting well prepared with a most exciting programme involving the Norwich Research Park, Norfolk Food Hub, Coke of Holkham and the Houses of Parliament.

SUPPORT THE NUFFIELD FARMING SCHOLARSHIPS TRUST

‘Leading positive change in Agriculture Inspiring passion and potential in people’ After a number of difficult years, I can report that Nuffield International (NI) is making great progress with new countries admitted and much sounder finances. This has been enhanced by a generous legacy of the sadly missed Chris Reichstein, 2014 Australian Scholar. In the spirit of this, your Trustees have decided to set up a similar fund for NI in the UK, to be made up from the Nuffield Russia Trust – see my article on page 16, and the Jill Willows legacy funds that she had wished for to be used for NI.

Our scholars are forward looking and anticipating the tomorrow. It is therefore no surprise that all new scholars are looking at regenerative practises, sustainability and resilience as part of their study. I am often asked how this squares with the carbon footprint of international travel and whether we are right to support this. I am afraid my answer is simple: seeing is believing and meeting the best in your field around the world in their environment is not only inspiring, but continuously building our DNA. Our scholarships are for life and an investment in all our futures to get on with it - rather than to keep talking about it.

Finally, I would like to thank my Vice-Chair Wyn Owen and all the Trustees for their inspirational commitment, support and encouragement. You are a pleasure to work with; I think we are a good team and with Mike and his team, we are getting quite a lot done.

See you at the Conference…