ALA was founded in 1975 to provide a forum for professionals serving agriculture – lawyers, surveyors, accountants, bankers, farm business consultants and others – to support each other in their specialisms.

It is now the UK’s premier independent cross-disciplinary organisation dealing on an agenda-free, non-partisan, non-political basis with all matters arising in connection with rural business. The membership of over 1,000 includes some of the leading practitioners in rural affairs in the UK and Europe today.

ALA runs Day Conferences, usually but not exclusively in London, in which a more detailed analysis of technical matters is presented, often in open discussion, for the benefit of those more experienced practitioners. Regional meetings also take place regularly, providing similar dedicated discussion of germane practical subjects.

ALA:The Next Generation caters for those with less experience by arranging mixed technical and social events which allow members of all professions to meet each other “with the drawbridge down” in circumstances which modern systems of office working do not normally permit.

Through these regular national and regional gatherings, members can exchange views and experiences on technical matters, both legal and practical – especially benefiting those working either alone or in specialist departments of larger firms. In-depth analysis of current issues as well as updates on legislation and discussion of important recent cases appear in our quarterly Bulletin.

The dedicated Members’ Section of this site contains detailed information on matters of topical interest, including legislation and case reports.

ALA is consulted by government on legislative and policy changes and, by maintaining its non-party political stance, provides impartial practical comment on proposed measures. It is also affiliated to the CEDR – the French acronym for the European Council for Rural Law – which is a body recognised on rural law by the European Commission, and provides members with a ready-made contact network throughout Europe, not just in the EU.

You might expect that for all these benefits you would have to pay a large fee – not so. We have been able to keep our fees relatively modest – only £70 per annum for a full year’s membership.

If you are a professional involved in rural business and want to know more about how to join ALA, please e-mail Geoff Whittaker at enquiries@ala.org.uk or telephone (01206)383521.