Details of the FARM & MORE event in Edinburgh from 29 January - 1 February are out now.  All FARMA members should have received information in the post (if you haven't got your booklet by now, please call 0845 45 88 420 and we'll send you another) and details are available at www.farmandmore.org.uk  Booking and payment are easily done on-line but if you want more details (or to book with a real person) please call 0845 45 88 420 and we'll be pleased to take your requirements.

To recap briefly on the FARM & MORE menu:
If you plan to come on the TOURS on Monday 30 January, it's best to plan to arrive on Sunday 29 January as it's an early start (8am).

There are four tours to choose from; we've noted that people don't want to spend ages on the road and want more time at the stops so the distances covered are not huge.  Furthest afield is the House of Bruar - but it's worth it! Otherwise there's a good range of styles of business, all showing great confidence in the farm retail sector in Scotland. There's a mini-conference for FARMERS' MARKETS on Monday afternoon, from 3-5.30pm - a chance to meet fellow delegates and give time to discuss and exchange information. It's at the EICC and makes an ideal start to the conference programme.

There's a friendly get together on Monday evening for everyone - tour returnees, farmers' markets delegates and newcomers arriving for Tuesday's conference, at the GHILLIE DHU, one of Scotland's coolest venues a short walk from the Premier Inn, Haymarket and other central hotels.  There will be food and drink, music and good company all evening from 8pm - and the ticket price is just £25 plus VAT.

The CONFERENCE on Tuesday 31 January is packed with highly topical themes and speakers who will inform, illustrate and sometimes provoke you. John Stanley promises that you might not agree with all he has to say about the next ten years of farm retailing and diversification - but he'll make you think about why you disagree! There are six streams of talks to choose from, each allows time for discussion and debate, followed by a plenary review of the day and closing remarks from Joanna Blythman, author and investigative journalist specialising in food, who's a keen supporter of local foods.  Dick Strawbridge takes the stage after lunch to talk about meeting challenges - as a charismatic team leader of 'Scrapheap Challenge' and presenter of 'It's not easy being green' focusing on eco-problem-solving on his smallholding in Cornwall, he's the man for the job.

Tuesday evening sees the AWARDS DINNER with the prizes presented by Clarissa Dickson Wright.  The TRADE SHOW is on Wednesday 1 February. All who have booked for the conference are automatically registered for free entry.  If you plan to come to the trade show only, it's free when you pre-register at www.farmandmore.org.uk , and otherwise it's £15 at the door on the day.  Great reasons to attend! Over 120 keen exhibitors covering food and drink, attractions & farm holidays, retail kit - tills, scales, lighting, chillers and shop layout, production equipment, labelling and packaging, gifts and more. Plus Conference attendees get £25 off their booking for FARM & MORE 2013 when their voucher is validated at the Show, and the opportunity of a free download of John Stanley's Retail Futures White Paper which would otherwise set you back £900.  John Stanley has two further sessions at the Trade Show which complete his Retail Futures outline, plus there's The Art of Brilliance, with Darrell Woodman, in three short sessions.

ACCOMMODATION
There's a special deal on three nights accommodation at the Premier Inn, Haymarket - over the road from the EICC - for just £120 plus VAT, which works out at £40 per room per night, plus VAT.  Anyone needing accommodation for these three consecutive nights, 29, 30 and 31 January, is welcome to book, either with your on-line booking or by calling 0845 45 88 420.  There is a limited number of rooms available on this package; when they're gone you can still book with the Premier Inn, Haymarket or any other city centre hotel directly - there will still be plenty of accommodation available.

Mary Portas delivered her eagerly-awaited suggestions for reviving the fortunes of the UK's ailing High Streets on Tuesday.  On her list of 28 recommendations are:
 
- Establishing a national 'Market Day', when budding shopkeepers can try out their retailing skills; and making it easier for people to become market traders through removing unnecessary regulations;
- Plus general deregulation of the High Street, changing the Use Class system in planning law to make it easier to change the use of premises;
- A presumption in favour of town centre development in the National Planning Framework, with the Secretary of State required to 'sign off' new out of town developments;

There's more at www.bis.gov.uk - it's on the front page currently.

The idea of a National Market Day has been broadly welcomed; FARMA will be at a meeting on 10 January to agree a way forward with partners in the Markets Alliance. It needs careful consideration and may not be fully what Mary Portas envisaged. However, the idea that markets can save the High Street is, we think, misplaced particularly if they are less regulated.  Markets need to be wanted by consumers; all our research at farmers' markets says that consumers want quality from the market and regulation - in the form of farmers' market Certification and statutory requirements - underpin consumer trust.  Looser regulation would result, inevitably, in the decline of markets.

As Mark Handley of London Farmers' Markets said: 'A market is not in itself a good idea to improve a High Street, a market has to be desired and established before it can benefit a town and then build itself into an attraction which can take years. I think a big question has to be how convenient is a market in today's world when the expectation is for 24/7 opening. General markets can be open more days but farmers markets are only ever going to have limited hours. The expectation that markets can save the High Street is too high. The High Street has to save the High Street and give people what they want, perhaps with less money in people's pockets the coffee shops will close ... and maybe rents will go down to allow greengrocers to return (we can dream!)'

A new campaign to encourage consumers in Wales to love locally grown fruit and vegetables launches later this month. 'Grow to Love' comes from the Horticulture Wales project at Glyndwr University and features special printed cards carrying fruit and veg facts, nutritional information, recipe ideas and serving suggestions.  These will be distributed to food retailers throughout Wales.

THE organisers of a Festival of Food and Farming to be held in Hyde Park, London in September 2013, are looking to raise £3 million to stage the event. The Duke of Edinburgh officially launches the event on 14 December 2011 at a reception for 100 leading figures from food, agriculture and countryside.

The farmers behind the project have formed a limited company, Farming in the Park, and are pushing ahead with plans to stage what would be farming’s biggest showcase since similar events in 1989 and 1992 attracted nearly one million people to the iconic central London park.

The intention is to stage a four-day event from September 26-29, 2013. Essex farmer Guy Smith, company secretary, said the basic concept was to ‘challenge every county in Britain to bring to Hyde Park an acre’s worth of exhibits that will exemplify the best of food, farming and countryside in their patch’.

In a brochure sent to prospective supporters of the event, the Duke of Edinburgh writes: “The last time the Festival of Food and Farming was organised in London was in 1989, and it was a huge success. “Now, over twenty years later, it would seem about time to repeat such a venture for the benefit of a whole new generation of urban consumers.”

The project has also received the ‘full support’ of farming education charity FACE, whose director Bill Graham said it would give children from London’s 2,250 schools a rare opportunity ‘to see the food and farming story live and close up’.

The organisers have commissioned Mantaplan, which organised the 1989 and 1992 festivals, to produce a feasibility study. It has had ‘enthusiastic’ feedback from the Royal Parks and Westminster City Council, whose permission would be required to stage the event. The next task is to raise funds and garner wider support for an event that will cost an estimated £2.75m-£3.1m to stage.

The 1989 and 92 events were sponsored by Asda. The organisers are speaking to large companies of a similar stature to try and secure support for the 2013 version.

“The proposal has been warmly received across the farming scene. If we could stage this event on the basis of good will and enthusiasm we could do it tomorrow. However, we do need some firm introductions to major sponsors to make it happen,” Mr Smith said.

• Farming in the Park has set up a new website www.farminginthepark.co.uk