The Princess Royal made her first appearance of the year as she attended the Oxford Farming Conference yesterday. Princess Anne attended the event in her role as Honorary President.
The Princess Royal has made her first royal appearance of the year (Image: Oxford Farming Conference).
The conference is an annual event for the UK’s farmers that takes place in Oxford, in the first week of January. This year’s conference celebrated the 75 years since the first convention, held in 1936. For the first time, the event was held virtually.
Princess Anne took time out of the conference to meet seven of its scholars during a Zoom call, to hear more about their backgrounds and the programme.
Closing the annual conference, Princess Anne stated: “Farming is fairly unusual, but farmers always overcome the challenges.”
“We must keep our eye on the sustainable and keep our eye on what makes sense for our own environment.”
The Princess, who has a passion for the outdoors, also spoke on a podcast for the Farming Conference. She was asked if food sectors in the United Kingdom would be in a healthy position to compete against other countries.
Our @oxfordfarming Honorary President, HRH, The Princess Royal, Princess Anne took some time out of the conference yesterday to join 7 of our scholars on a private zoom call to hear more about them and the 2021 OFC scholar programme. #OFC21 @RoyalFamily pic.twitter.com/4rxijKE53C
— Oxford Farming Conf (@oxfordfarming) January 8, 2021
“Some are much better prepared than others because they already, in a way, have a global market in some areas. Whereas, in others, it’s been very much an internal business. It’s been very different for them.”
“There’s Brexit and how people cope with that. And for some it will be an opportunity.”
“For others it’s been the impact of the pandemic which equally has been a mixed experience. But you only have to look at the blockages at the ports to know that we need to be more resilient in some of these areas.”
“And I hope that’s something that not just the retail but the customers will understand is a really important aspect of our countryside. It’s not because somebody wants to grow things.”
“There is a real purpose here and that will end up in your shopping bag quite possibly.”
Princess Anne was last seen attending an engagement alongside other senior royals, including Prince Charles, at Windsor Castle to thank key workers. The celebration of local key worker was the concluding part of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Train Tour.
