CLIMATE change protesters have revealed plans to picket events at next week's Oxford Farming Conference.
Extinction Rebellion Oxford has said it will be demonstrating at events on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday next week – January 7-9.
Campaigners will also stage a protest in the city centre against 'the contribution of the current food system to the climate emergency'.
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Starting on the first day of the conference on Tuesday, members of the group will stage 'actions and outreach' outside Oxford University's Examination Schools on High Street from 11.30am to 1pm.
From 5.30pm to 6.30pm the same day the group says it will put on a 'buzzing bees stunt' proceeding from St. Giles to the Ashmolean Museum and Examination Schools – 'accompanying delegates to a drinks reception'.
On Wednesday, January 8, the group will start with more 'actions and outreach' outside the Examination Schools from 8.45am to 9.30am.
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From 5.30pm to 6.30pm protesters will go on a 'candlelight vigil' walk from the Examination Schools to the Oxford Union, 'with buzzing bees around the centre and union'.
On Thursday there will be 'general campaigning' at the Examination Schools from 3pm to 4pm.
Group member Till Weidner said XR wanted to highlight the fact that 'many farmers today are at the mercy of the global food market's powerful lobbyists' who contributed to environmental damage.
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He went on: "In the UK, multi-billion pound corporations, in particular supermarkets and agribusinesses (e.g. Sainsburys and Syngenta) indirectly control what farmers grow and how they grow it.
"They therefore control how more than 70 per cent of UK land is managed.
"The majority of farmland in the UK does not grow crops for direct consumption but is used for livestock, biomass and commodities. As a result, we have to import about 47 per cent of our total food and about 75 per cent of our fruit and vegetables."
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