AIC Dinner and Conference 2023 - Working with Natural Capital within the agri-food supply chain

The Rt Hon George Eustice MP

The Rt Hon George Eustice MP served as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) from February 2020 until September 2022. He also served as Minister of State in Defra between 2013 and 2020.  

George was first elected as MP for Camborne, Redruth, and Hayle in 2010. He champions economic regeneration in Cornwall and actively campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union, stating that he wanted to see Ministers and their Civil Servants have the freedom to start thinking policy ideas through from first principles. 

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Chris Guest

AIC Chairman,

As Managing Director of LS Plant Breeding Ltd and Chairman of the AIC Board, Cambridgeshire-based Mr Guest brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to the role.

Chris studied Rural Land Management at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, before joining Gleadell Agriculture, now ADM Agriculture, in 2008 managing the company's seed operations as Head of Seed.

He is a British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) Board Member, Trustee of East of England Agricultural Society and has previously sat on AHDB Recommended List committees.

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Charlotte Smith

BBC Radio 4 Farming Today,

Charlotte Smith is the presenter of Farming Today.  She was born and brought up in the Leicestershire village of Quorn and has been a radio nerd since her teens, when she started volunteering at BBC Radio Leicester. 

The BBC trained Charlotte on the Local Radio Reporters Scheme, which gave her lots of experience and very bad shorthand.  After stints at BBC’s Sussex, Cumbria and Devon Charlotte ended up back at Radio Leicester as a news reporter, where she learnt a lot…. some of it about journalism. 

Charlotte then worked as a producer on Radio 4’s The World Tonight, as a reporter and sports presenter on BBC TV’s East Midlands Today, and as a producer and reporter and presenter on Five Live (not usually all at the same time).  After reporting for Radio 4’s You and Yours and for daytime TV, conversation in a lift led to me presenting Farming Today on Radio 4 and Countryfile on BBC One. 

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Robert Sheasby

AIC Chief Executive, AIC

Robert Sheasby was appointed the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) Chief Executive in May 2018.  In this role Robert has overall responsibility for all aspects of the AIC, across its political lobbying, member representation and the six trade assurance schemes it runs on behalf of the agricultural supply sector.  Robert joined the AIC after 17 years at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) where he had held various roles, most recently as NFU Regional Director for East Anglia.  Prior to this Robert had been Regional Director in the North West and NFU Surveyor for England & Wales.

Robert studied at Seale Hayne Agricultural College and holds a degree in Rural Estate Management as well as being a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).  Prior to joining the NFU in 2001 Robert worked in the South West and the Thames Valley for firms of chartered surveyors as land agent and auctioneer.  Robert is also a member of the Agricultural Law Association (ALA).

Robert is experienced in agricultural political lobbying both at a national and European level.  He has been involved in the development of national policy with Government, shaped European policy, as well as worked with national infrastructure companies to develop framework agreements for national use.

In addition to his daytime role Robert is a Governor at Easton and Otley Agricultural College which covers Norfolk, Suffolk and beyond.  This role provides not only insight to the future of our industry but also enables him to contribute something in return to the industry.

In his personal life Robert is married to Anna and they have three daughters, Olivia, Matilda and Isabelle.  Away from work Robert enjoys rugby, cycling and mountain walking.

: https://www.agindustries.org.uk
: robertsheasby
: @Agindustriesuk

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Ed Barker

Head of Policy & External Affairs, AIC

No bio provided

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Robert Sheasby

AIC Chief Executive, AIC

Robert Sheasby was appointed the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) Chief Executive in May 2018.  In this role Robert has overall responsibility for all aspects of the AIC, across its political lobbying, member representation and the six trade assurance schemes it runs on behalf of the agricultural supply sector.  Robert joined the AIC after 17 years at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) where he had held various roles, most recently as NFU Regional Director for East Anglia.  Prior to this Robert had been Regional Director in the North West and NFU Surveyor for England & Wales.

Robert studied at Seale Hayne Agricultural College and holds a degree in Rural Estate Management as well as being a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).  Prior to joining the NFU in 2001 Robert worked in the South West and the Thames Valley for firms of chartered surveyors as land agent and auctioneer.  Robert is also a member of the Agricultural Law Association (ALA).

Robert is experienced in agricultural political lobbying both at a national and European level.  He has been involved in the development of national policy with Government, shaped European policy, as well as worked with national infrastructure companies to develop framework agreements for national use.

In addition to his daytime role Robert is a Governor at Easton and Otley Agricultural College which covers Norfolk, Suffolk and beyond.  This role provides not only insight to the future of our industry but also enables him to contribute something in return to the industry.

In his personal life Robert is married to Anna and they have three daughters, Olivia, Matilda and Isabelle.  Away from work Robert enjoys rugby, cycling and mountain walking.

: https://www.agindustries.org.uk
: robertsheasby
: @Agindustriesuk

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Ed Barker

Head of Policy & External Affairs, AIC

No bio provided

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Minette Batters

President, NFU

Minette runs a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire. The mixed farming business includes a 100-cow continental cross suckler herd, as well as sheep and
arable. Diversification includes the conversion of a 17th Century tithe barn into a wedding and corporate events venue, and horse liveries. Minette co-founded the campaigning initiatives 'Ladies in Beef' and the 'Great British Beef Week'.

Campaigning on behalf of NFU members about the importance of British food and farming has been a key driver for Minette throughout her time at the NFU. In 2020 she led one of the most successful petitions ever, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts - resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. She has also regularly engaged with different media genres including appearances on Desert Island Discs, Question Time, and Any Questions.

She has been an NFU member from grassroots through to County Chairman; she served as Wiltshire’s Council delegate and also as Regional Board Chairman for the South West. Minette has also been a member of NFU Governance Board and served as NFU deputy president for four years from 2014 to 2018, before being elected as president in February 2018. Minette is also an ambassador of Farm Africa and was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 2021.

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Adam White

Head of Agriculture, Barclays Bank

Adam White is the Head of Agriculture for Barclays Business. Responsible for a team of dedicated Agriculture and Landed Estates managers across the UK, who support farming and land based businesses through a range of projects such as diversification, sustainability and growth.

He read at the University of Greenwich, followed by an MBA at the University of Lincoln and Sustainable Finance at the University of Cambridge. Adam is also a Member of the Institute of Agricultural Management. 

He currently serves as a trustee of the East Anglia Agricultural Society supporting with industry engagement and growth for the next generation alongside showcasing UK Agriculture across urban areas and within schools.

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Professor Sir Charles Godfray

Oxford Martin School

Professor Charles Godfray was appointed Director of the Oxford Martin School on 1 February 2018.

He is a population biologist with broad interests in the environmental sciences and has published in fundamental and applied areas of ecology, evolution and epidemiology.

He is interested in how the global food system will need to change and adapt to the challenges facing humanity in the 21st century, and in particular in the concept of sustainable intensification, and the relationship between food production, ecosystem services and biodiversity.

In 2017 he was knighted for services to scientific research and for scientific advice to government.

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Mark Spencer MP

Minister of State, Defra, England,

Mark Spencer was first elected as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Sherwood in 2010. Mark is also a local farmer and businessman. Mark's family have lived in Sherwood for four generations in Lambley- where he still lives today with his wife and two children.

Born in 1970, Mark went to Lambley Primary School then Colonel Frank Seely School in Calverton. He then studied at Shuttleworth Agricultural College in Bedfordshire, before joining the family farm business which now employs around 50 local people, growing produce which is sold in the farm shop.

Before entering Parliament, Mark was Chairman of the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs as well as a District and County Councillor.

Since becoming a Member of Parliament, Mark has served on several committees including the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee. In 2016, the then Prime Minister, Theresa May MP, appointed Mark to the Government Whips Office as an Assistant Government Whip. Mark also held various other posts in the Whips Office including Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury (2017-2018), Vice Chamberlain of HM Household (2018) and Comptroller of HM Household (2018-2019). 

In July 2019, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, appointed Mark to the Cabinet in the post of Government Chief Whip and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. He served in this role until February 2022, when the Prime Minister appointed Mark, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council.

Following the election of Liz Truss as Prime MInister, Mark was appointed as Minister of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Mark still spends his time campaigning for Sherwood, and ensuring that his priorities for the local community are delivered. 

: https://www.markspencer.org.uk

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Mairi Gougeon MSP

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands,

Mairi Gougeon was previously a councillor for Brechin and Edzell, during which she was chairwoman of the East of Scotland European Consortium. 

She is a history graduate from the University of Aberdeen. 

Mairi was elected as the MSP for Angus North and Mearns in May 2016. She was appointed Minister for Public Health and Sport in December 2020. 

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Lesley Griffiths MS

Minister for Rural Affairs, North Wales and Trefnydd,

Lesley Griffiths has lived and worked in Wrexham all her adult life.  As a strong supporter of devolution for Wales, she played an active role in the 1997 'Yes for Wales' campaign.

She was first elected to the National Assembly for Wales in May 2007 and served on several Assembly Committees. 

She has held a number of Ministerial posts in Welsh Government since December 2009 as Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills, Health and Social Services, Local Government and Government Business, Communities and Tackling Poverty and across a range of Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs portfolios.

Following the Senedd election in May 2021, Lesley was appointed Minister for Rural Affairs, North Wales and Trefnydd.

Outside of politics, her main hobbies are music, walking and watching Wrexham Football Club.

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Charlotte Smith

BBC Radio 4 Farming Today,

Charlotte Smith is the presenter of Farming Today.  She was born and brought up in the Leicestershire village of Quorn and has been a radio nerd since her teens, when she started volunteering at BBC Radio Leicester. 

The BBC trained Charlotte on the Local Radio Reporters Scheme, which gave her lots of experience and very bad shorthand.  After stints at BBC’s Sussex, Cumbria and Devon Charlotte ended up back at Radio Leicester as a news reporter, where she learnt a lot…. some of it about journalism. 

Charlotte then worked as a producer on Radio 4’s The World Tonight, as a reporter and sports presenter on BBC TV’s East Midlands Today, and as a producer and reporter and presenter on Five Live (not usually all at the same time).  After reporting for Radio 4’s You and Yours and for daytime TV, conversation in a lift led to me presenting Farming Today on Radio 4 and Countryfile on BBC One. 

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Dr Mark Young

Innovation Specialist, CIEL

Mark Young has been with CIEL for almost seven years as Head of Innovation, recently moving to a position as Innovation Specialist. Prior to joining CIEL in 2016, he spent 15 years as senior geneticist for Beef + Lamb New Zealand with the NZ sheep genetic improvement system, SIL. Before that he was a scientist with SRUC in Edinburgh using CT scanning to look at the genetics of body composition and carcass growth in sheep. 

He has spent much of the last 30 years working closely with farmers, and breeders applying genetic selection tools, helping to demystify technology, understanding farmer needs, and translating these for scientists to deliver innovations that are relevant, of value and widely picked up.

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Dr Penny Hundleby FRSB

Senior Scientist, John Innes Centre

Dr Penny Hundleby is a Senior Scientist at the John Innes Centre, a world leading Plant and Microbial Research Institute based on the Norwich Research Park. She is part of a technology platform that supports both UK and International researchers with access to genetic modification (GM) and gene editing (GE) technologies for the main UK crops.  

Penny has worked in the area of genetic technologies for over 28 years and while GM and GE have primarily been used to increase our understanding of how plants work (as enabling technologies) changes to legislation now provide the opportunity to use our scientific knowledge to develop more nutritious, more resilient and sustainable crops for the future.

Penny has been involved in a range of knowledge exchange, outreach and public engagement activities to explain these emerging technologies, engaging with students, farmers, breeders, industry and policy makers.

Penny is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB), an Honorary lecturer at the University of East Anglia, Associate Fellow Higher Education (AFHE), Chartered Scientist (CSci) and a Director for the International Society for Plant Molecular Farming (ISPMF).

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Professor John Gilliland OBE

Queens University Belfast,

Recently appointed to the EU’s Soil Mission Board and a special advisor to the UK’s Agriculture Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), John Gilliland, is a willow and livestock farmer from N. Ireland, whose farm has independently been verified to be “Beyond” Net Zero, today. He is also the Professor of Practice in Agriculture and Sustainability at Queens University Belfast; and chair of the innovative, EIP-Agri funded, farmer led, carbon farming project, ARC Zero, www.arczeroni.org.

As an alumni of the US International Visitor Leadership Program, John Gilliland is highly respected and recognised as an excellent leader and communicator across the breadth of the Agri Food and Sustainable Land Management Sectors. This has included presentations to the Joint EU Agriculture & Environment Council, Bratislava, and the Global Summit on Soil Security, Sydney, where he was awarded “Best Paper.”

He has been an award winning farmer in Ireland; President of the Ulster Farmers Union; a Non Executive Director of the Scottish Rural College (SRUC), and an Energy Regulator in N. Ireland; while at the same time, he has been a policy adviser for Devolved, National and European Governments on Biotechnology, Climate Change and Sustainability.

In particular, for seven years, John chaired the UK’s Rural Climate Change Forum, reporting directly to the Secretary of State of DEFRA, London, and supporting the UK at COP15 in Copenhagen. While Director of SRUC in Edinburgh, he helped set up their very successful Carbon Management Centre.

For seven years as Director of Agriculture and Sustainability of the Irish livestock nutrition company, Devenish, John led the development of the their research farm, the Lands at Dowth, transforming it into both a Lighthouse Farm for WUR’s (Wageningen University & Research) Global Network of Lighthouse Farms, and a Living Lab, in a project called Heartland, with five PhD students, in partnership with WUR and UCD, and funded by the EU’s Marie Curie Programme, https://www.heartlandproject.eu/heartland

The Lands at Dowth farm is on course to deliver “Net Zero” Beef and Lamb production by 2025.

Alongside this, John chaired the writing of the N. Ireland Sustainable Land Management Strategy which led to the recent opening of N. Ireland’s Soil Nutrient Health and LiDAR Scheme, which is a World first and an investment of £45m to baseline all fields’ soil, trees and hedges in N. Ireland. https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/soil-nutrient-health-scheme- frequently-asked-questions

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Dr Martin Scholten

Wageningen University & Aarhus University

Dr. Martin C. Th. Scholten (Wageningen University; Aarhus University) is principle scientific advisor in a safe and just green transition towards a biobased society based on natural capital in the Netherlands and Denmark. In 2022 he was awarded as ‘Honorary Fellow’ of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). 

He was member of the Board of Directors of Wageningen University & Research in the period 2008-2020. He is a science-to-policy advisor to the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality for the Netherlands vision “Agriculture, nature and food: valuable and connected”, and served various state advice committees on critical issues related to intensive agriculture. 

Amongst many other roles and positions, he was  the first president of the European public-private livestock innovation platform “Animal Task Force”; co-chair of the Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. and board member of the  “European Federation of Animal Sciences” (EAAP). 

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Professor John Gilliland OBE

Queens University Belfast,

Recently appointed to the EU’s Soil Mission Board and a special advisor to the UK’s Agriculture Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), John Gilliland, is a willow and livestock farmer from N. Ireland, whose farm has independently been verified to be “Beyond” Net Zero, today. He is also the Professor of Practice in Agriculture and Sustainability at Queens University Belfast; and chair of the innovative, EIP-Agri funded, farmer led, carbon farming project, ARC Zero, www.arczeroni.org.

As an alumni of the US International Visitor Leadership Program, John Gilliland is highly respected and recognised as an excellent leader and communicator across the breadth of the Agri Food and Sustainable Land Management Sectors. This has included presentations to the Joint EU Agriculture & Environment Council, Bratislava, and the Global Summit on Soil Security, Sydney, where he was awarded “Best Paper.”

He has been an award winning farmer in Ireland; President of the Ulster Farmers Union; a Non Executive Director of the Scottish Rural College (SRUC), and an Energy Regulator in N. Ireland; while at the same time, he has been a policy adviser for Devolved, National and European Governments on Biotechnology, Climate Change and Sustainability.

In particular, for seven years, John chaired the UK’s Rural Climate Change Forum, reporting directly to the Secretary of State of DEFRA, London, and supporting the UK at COP15 in Copenhagen. While Director of SRUC in Edinburgh, he helped set up their very successful Carbon Management Centre.

For seven years as Director of Agriculture and Sustainability of the Irish livestock nutrition company, Devenish, John led the development of the their research farm, the Lands at Dowth, transforming it into both a Lighthouse Farm for WUR’s (Wageningen University & Research) Global Network of Lighthouse Farms, and a Living Lab, in a project called Heartland, with five PhD students, in partnership with WUR and UCD, and funded by the EU’s Marie Curie Programme, https://www.heartlandproject.eu/heartland

The Lands at Dowth farm is on course to deliver “Net Zero” Beef and Lamb production by 2025.

Alongside this, John chaired the writing of the N. Ireland Sustainable Land Management Strategy which led to the recent opening of N. Ireland’s Soil Nutrient Health and LiDAR Scheme, which is a World first and an investment of £45m to baseline all fields’ soil, trees and hedges in N. Ireland. https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/soil-nutrient-health-scheme- frequently-asked-questions

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Dr Martin Scholten

Wageningen University & Aarhus University

Dr. Martin C. Th. Scholten (Wageningen University; Aarhus University) is principle scientific advisor in a safe and just green transition towards a biobased society based on natural capital in the Netherlands and Denmark. In 2022 he was awarded as ‘Honorary Fellow’ of Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). 

He was member of the Board of Directors of Wageningen University & Research in the period 2008-2020. He is a science-to-policy advisor to the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality for the Netherlands vision “Agriculture, nature and food: valuable and connected”, and served various state advice committees on critical issues related to intensive agriculture. 

Amongst many other roles and positions, he was  the first president of the European public-private livestock innovation platform “Animal Task Force”; co-chair of the Livestock Research Group of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. and board member of the  “European Federation of Animal Sciences” (EAAP). 

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Charlotte Smith

BBC Radio 4 Farming Today,

Charlotte Smith is the presenter of Farming Today.  She was born and brought up in the Leicestershire village of Quorn and has been a radio nerd since her teens, when she started volunteering at BBC Radio Leicester. 

The BBC trained Charlotte on the Local Radio Reporters Scheme, which gave her lots of experience and very bad shorthand.  After stints at BBC’s Sussex, Cumbria and Devon Charlotte ended up back at Radio Leicester as a news reporter, where she learnt a lot…. some of it about journalism. 

Charlotte then worked as a producer on Radio 4’s The World Tonight, as a reporter and sports presenter on BBC TV’s East Midlands Today, and as a producer and reporter and presenter on Five Live (not usually all at the same time).  After reporting for Radio 4’s You and Yours and for daytime TV, conversation in a lift led to me presenting Farming Today on Radio 4 and Countryfile on BBC One. 

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Chris Guest

AIC Chairman,

As Managing Director of LS Plant Breeding Ltd and Chairman of the AIC Board, Cambridgeshire-based Mr Guest brings a wealth of industry knowledge and experience to the role.

Chris studied Rural Land Management at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, before joining Gleadell Agriculture, now ADM Agriculture, in 2008 managing the company's seed operations as Head of Seed.

He is a British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB) Board Member, Trustee of East of England Agricultural Society and has previously sat on AHDB Recommended List committees.

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