Exploring innovation, sustainability and the future of farming.
Agriculture plays a critical role in achieving net zero, yet it's often overlooked in mainstream climate conversations.
This exciting webinar session, taking place during our Net Zero Week 2025, will explore how agri-tech innovation is helping reduce emissions, improve resilience and shape the future of sustainable food production.
From carbon measurement and precision farming to tech-enabled land use and finance, this conversation brings together voices from farming, government, agri-tech start-ups and the wider supply chain.
What the sessions will cover:
- The role of agri-tech in reducing on-farm emissions.
- Examples of new technologies and innovation in practice.
- Opportunities for climate mitigation and resilience in agriculture.
- The importance of standards in enabling adoption and scalability.
- Cross-sector collaboration across farming, retail, finance and data.
Webinar details:
Date: Wednesday 24 September 2025
Time: 14:30 – 16:00 (BST)
Location: Online
Agenda:
14:30 Welcome & BSI Introduction
- Emily Field, Food Sector Lead, BSI
14:35 Agriculture’s role in reducing emissions - Discussing the analysis for the CCC’s 7th carbon budget for agriculture and land use
- Vera Eory, Reader, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC)
14:50 Net zero farming and the role of tech
- Jonathan Scurlock, Chief Adviser, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, National Farmers Union
15:05 Government priorities for driving economic growth
- Sarah Kaya, Senior Policy Advisor, DEFRA
15:20 Financing the transition
- Tim Coates, Managing Director, Dunthrop Farms Ltd
15:35 Audience Q&A
16:00 Close
Speaker details:
 Jonathan Scurlock
Chief Adviser, Renewable Energy and Climate Change, National Farmers Union
A senior NFU adviser since 2007, Jonathan Scurlock leads a small team providing analysis and advice on energy, climate change and net zero policy to the NFU's management, office holders and members. His background is in university and government research in the UK and USA, covering energy and climate policy, plant physiology, all kinds of biomass fuels, bio-based products and other renewables. The author of more than 50 publications, he was educated at Oxford and London, and is a Visiting Fellow at the Open University.
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 Sarah Kaya
Policy advisor in the Agri Tech Sector Policy team
Sarah Kaya is a policy advisor in the Agri Tech Sector Policy team, part of the Agri-Food Chain Directorate at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
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 Vera Eory
Reader, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC)
Vera Eory is a Reader in Climate Change in Scotland’s Rural College. She conducts interdisciplinary research to improve the sustainability of agricultural production, with a particular focus on farm and policy aspects of greenhouse gas mitigation.
Vera has over fifteen years of experience in the economic and environmental implications of greenhouse gas reduction practices in agriculture, including the cost-effectiveness of mitigation practices, environmental co-effects, farmers’ perceptions and the development of policy instruments. She has been working with industry and policy stakeholders, and has been a member in advisory groups, e.g. the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change and the UK Government’s Nutrient Management Expert Group. She holds a PhD in Climate Change Economics from the University of Edinburgh.
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 Tim Coates
Managing Director, Dunthrop Farms Ltd
Tim Coates is a 3rd generation mixed farmer - currently in an aggressive regenerative transition. He is a Director of the North East Cotswold Farmer Cluster community interest company, England’s largest farmer cluster and is also the Managing Director of the Evenlode Landscape Recovery - the cluster’s Natural Capital Special Purpose Vehicle.
Tim was the co-founder and Chief Customer & Regulatory Officer of Oxbury Bank Plc, the UK’s only dedicated bank for food, farming and the rural economy where he implemented a Responsible Impact and Natural Capital approach to strategy, including being the first UK Financial Institution to fully disclose under the TNFD framework and designed the Oxbury Transition Facility.
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