The British Free Range Egg Producers Association and organising partner ForFarmers have announced that the 2021 Conference and Free Range Awards are to be cancelled amid ongoing uncertainty surrounding COVID-19.
The annual conference is the flagship event of the free range industry, attended by hundreds of farmers, trade exhibitors and representatives from across the supply chain.
BFREPA is planning a digital event instead, with details to be announced later this spring.
Secretary Alison Bone said: “While the current timeline for the lifting of restrictions indicates that an indoor event would be possible by the end of September, it is impossible to say with any certainty that our conference could go ahead in its usual way.
“We canvassed the opinions of members and trade exhibitors who have supported our proposal that the event is cancelled for 2021.
“Organising an event of this scale takes a huge amount of resources, which has to start several months in advance, and our exhibitors also need prompt notification to ensure they don’t start to incur costs, so we are making this announcement as early as possible.
“However, we are excited about further developing our digital offering for members and are working hard to plan a great online session to benefit their farms and businesses.”