A MAJOR rural policy conference is to examine the different demands placed on the countryside.

The conference, Countryside Values for the 21st Century, is being organised by Gloucestershire University's Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI).

It will examine how topics once confined to the countryside have now become matters of wider and more pressing societal concerns.

The full conference programme is available here.

Delegates will reflect on the economic transition away from farming to the multiple needs that the 21st century society seeks to meet from the countryside.

These include food, energy, materials and medicines as well as recreation, leisure and housing, and to share ideas and experience about how it could and will respond.

CCRI director Janet Dwyer said the conference aimed to shed new light on important separate but inter-connected topics.

Those topics were 'Inclusive food systems', 'Well being, Happiness and Rural Policy' and 'Learning and innovation for sustainable farm businesses'."

Professor Dwyer said: "The 2015 conference will provide a platform to explore and celebrate what the contemporary countryside offers with a focus on its key needs and concerns for the future."

The event takes place on 22 January 2015 at the Royal Society, London. Full information is available here.