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Meet The 2025 speakers
Farmer, co-creator and coach
Jules hails from Aotearoa, New Zealand. She brings a wealth of farming and performance coaching experience to the table as a change maker in the agricultural sector both in NZ and abroad. As a connector and creator, her love of the land and all things living has seen her develop a wholistic living systems approach to both the practical aspects of farming as well as the more nuanced energetic systems that determine environmental and human wellbeing.
Her life in the ag sector has spanned over 50 years, working in a broad variety of settings and farms from small scale diverse systems to large scale cropping and livestock operations.
Currently she is a director and advisor at Mangaroa Farms which she was responsible for designing as a local food hub and education centre to create resilience in the local community. She also runs a 400-ha beef and lamb finishing operation.
GP
Dr David Unwin works in Southport near Liverpool, where he has helped care for a practice of 9700 people since 1986 as a family doctor.
To date 150 of his patients with T2 diabetes have achieved drug-free remission. This gives a remission rate of 50% at 30 months duration of those choosing a lower carb diet. This equates to a remission rate of over 20% of the diabetic population of the entire practice. One of the best results for any clinic in the world.
For the past few years, he has been a UK Royal College of General Practitioners expert clinical advisor on diabetes. David was also elected to fellowship of the college for his work in the training of trainee general practitioners.
Broadcaster
Mary-Ann is a broadcaster and author specialising in anthropology, archaeology, and the outdoors. She’s President of CPRE, the Countryside Charity, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and Patron of the Ridgeway National Trail.
She’s a member of Natural England’s Landscape Advisory Panel (NELAP), which advises the Natural England board on landscape issues.
Mary-Ann is also a member of All the Elements, a network of professionals, campaigners and community leaders committed to diversifying the outdoors.
Founder and CEO of the Sustainable Food Trust
Between 1995 and 2010 Patrick was Director of the Soil Association, where he played a leading role in developing the organic standards and market. He is the founder and CEO of the Sustainable Food Trust, whose mission is to work internationally to accelerate the transition towards more sustainable food and farming systems.
He has farmed for over 50 years on a 300-acre mixed organic dairy holding, now the longest established organic dairy farm in Wales, producing a raw milk cheddar from 85 Ayrshire cows.
He received a CBE for services to organic farming in 2005 and is Patron of the UK Bio-dynamic Agriculture Association. He became an Ashoka fellow in 2016 and was awarded an honorary doctorate for his international work in sustainable agriculture by the University of Wales Trinity St David in 2022.
Director of Agriculture and Sustainable Sourcing at ABP UK
Phil is responsible for ABP’s flagship sustainability programme (PRISM) which aims to provide a platform to improve the sustainability of red meat. Working with 350 farmers, the programme is in the second round of carbon assessments to provide farmers with baseline carbon data and support farmers to make decisions which improve profitability and reduce emissions. Phil’s previous role was Head of Food and Farming for the NFU and brings experience from Government, retail and livestock procurement.
His spare time is dedicated to his three daughters and an unmanageable cocker spaniel.
Landscape architect and agroecology coach
A leading landscape architect horticulturalist and agroecology coach with a reputation for creating beautiful regenerative landscapes often in sensitive places.
Marian writes and speaks on regenerative design and began by specialising in historic landscapes. A Fellow of the Landscape Institute and Fellow of the Society of Garden Designers, Marian is co-founder of the Sustainable Landscape Foundation and of Chalk to Coast, a 60 mile farmer led nature recovery corridor on the North Kent Coast.
Entrepreneur and regenerative business consultant
Nicola MacPhail is passionate about opportunities to regenerate rural areas she works in a variety of sectors with a focus on relocalising our food system, supporting rural communities, local businesses and nature restoration with new holistic approaches.
A dynamic systems thinker and synergist, she works with a variety of organisations on integrated and collaborative projects spanning advocacy, policy and economics to farming, housing and mobile infrastructure.
CEO Nature Friendly Farming Network UK
Martin is an arable farmer and contractor in South Cambridgeshire. His special interest is in farm conservation management, and he currently runs SFI and Countryside Stewardship schemes on land he manages.
Martin is CEO of the Nature Friendly Farming Network UK and looks to sharing best practices and demonstrating what can be accomplished for nature and the environment while producing great produce.
With the demands of climate change, reaching Net Zero is even more important and Martin wants to champion how this can be achieved through nature friendly farming whilst supporting and help to maintain profitable farming businesses.
Broadcaster
A journalist and broadcaster who’s been set on understanding our food system for nearly 40 years, Sheila started at the New York City magazine Food Monitor where she wrote their Food Biz column, monitoring the global food companies. From there she moved to BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme as a reporter, then producer and now presenter.
She was born in Hoghton, Lancashire, and worked on local farms from the time she was 13 to when she graduated from university (& left the UK). Her Dillon grandparents were farmers in N Ireland.
She’s won numerous awards but is proudest of being given an honourary doctorate by City, University of London which said “her journalism has changed the way we think about food.”
Farmer
Rich farms near Rothbury in Northumberland with his wife Jen on an upland beef and sheep farm. Breeding 2000 outdoor lambing sheep, on the journey to wool shedding sheep from an existing flock of Lleyn's alongside 120 Angus cows.
They try to run a low cost, simple, forage-based system. All lambs and store calves need to be gone by the end of November to enable adequate grass covers for tupping and outwintering all cattle. They are also part of two SFI schemes and a Countryside Stewardship Scheme.
Farmer - Eden Yard
Jannike, alongside her husband Ben, has built up a farming enterprise spanning over 600 acres of both arable and grassland. They grow a range of cereals and also have 400 breeding sheep and are part of various countryside stewardship and SFI schemes.
Over the last three years Jannike has established an award-winning rapeseed oil company, supplying retailers, distributors and restaurants. In addition they have also developed a local supply chain for their milling wheat, creating their own range of stoneground flours as well as supplying a local bakery with heritage no-input grains.
They are working towards opening a farm shop later this year.
Ruumi
Johannes grew up on a farm and now runs ruumi, a company that helps food businesses track their sustainability data.
After studying machine learning, he built data products for companies like eBay and Daimler. Now he's using that tech experience to tackle real problems in agriculture - helping farmers, processors, and retailers work together through better data sharing.
He knows farming from the ground up and uses technology to make supply chains more transparent and efficient.
Hedge fanatic
Megan is the Key Habitats Officer at People’s Trust for Endangered Species. Having previously worked at RBG Kew, and the Natural History Museum, she has been working with PTES for 10 years, focusing on ‘woodland edge’ type habitats and specialises in hedgerows. She runs both the Great British Hedgerow Survey, and the Healthy Hedgerows rapid assessment app, created to help farmers with hedgerow management decisions.
A confirmed hedgerow geek, she can often be found taking photos of hedges, talking about hedges, or on twitter (for my sins) @FavColour_Green talking about photos of hedges.
Cheesemonger
Andy co-owns The Courtyard Dairy in Settle, North Yorkshire. A real advocate of farm-made traditional cheese, he has been central to the revival of on-farm faw milk cheesemaking in the North of England; working closely with farmers to diversify and produce quality artisan produce.
Winner of The Guild Fine Food's Golden Fork for his lifetime "Contribution to Fine Food" as well as numerous other awards (World Cheesemonger of The Year, The UK's Best Cheese Shop 2024) The Courtyard Dairy continues to be an outpost championing and supporting a resurgence in on-farm cheesemaking.
Farmer, artist, fibre producer and advocate for
regenerative business
Based in the Lake District, Maria runs projects
that champion sustainable farming, local wool, and resilient rural economies. Through her work with The Wool Library and collaborations across farming and textile industries, she brings deep, practical
experience of how strong supply chain relationships can drive positive change.
Passionate about innovation at a grassroots level, Maria offers a grounded and optimistic perspective on building better, fairer supply chains for farmers, businesses, and the planet.
Farmer, coach, consultant
Silas has a decade of hands-on experience in regenerative agriculture. He divides his time between “Cotswold Cattle Company”, his co-owned food and farming venture and “Grassfed Farmer”, his agroecological coaching business.
With a background rooted in both commercial and direct selling models and with ties to New Zealand through his family dairy farm and kiwi fruit orchards, he champions lean, profitable farming systems that also deliver on increasing biodiversity and soil health gains.
Soils specialist
Jade is a Soils Specialist at Hutchinsons, with a degree in Environmental Science
and a strong foundation in agriculture.
Before joining Hutchinsons, Jade worked in organic
waste application for agricultural benefit and served as a Technical Expert for BASIS, the
UK’s accrediting body for agronomists.
BASIS and FACTS qualified, and a BASIS-approved
trainer, Jade now specialises in knowledge exchange, connecting soil functionality to soil
health and delivering practical, sustainable soil management advice to the farming sector.
Artist and archaeologist
Rose is an archaeologist and artist based in North Yorkshire. Her work often explores the relationship between people and landscape through time.
She is interested in how to inspire people and create ways in which they can imagine past and future worlds. She does this through a whole range of work, from creative projects with museums and heritage organisations, and writing, illustrating and designing books.
She enjoys collaborations that bring together different skills, research and approaches. Rose writes, presents and produces programmes for BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4 including Open Country, On Your Farm and EarthWorks.
Research & Development Coordinator, Chirrup.ai
Mhairi spent 20 years in clinical veterinary practice, during which time she gained an MSc in One Health, which links environmental health with human and animal health. Coming from a hill sheep farming background, she has a key understanding of the importance of local knowledge, and the facilitation of knowledge-sharing to benefit the farming community.
Mhairi began working for Chirrup last summer as the representative for Scotland, and she has already set up several exciting research collaborations. Her main interest is in looking at ways that improving biodiversity can have beneficial socioeconomic impacts for the agricultural sector.
Consultant Healthy Soils
Ian has a lifelong involvement in all things soil, growing up on an organic farm, working in various consultancy roles helping farmers understand their soils. Over the last 20 years Ian has developed one of the most detailed soil tests on the market, which is widely used throughout the UK and Europe, allowing farmers a greater understanding of how best to manage their resources.
Ian uses hands-on presentations and demonstrations that are practical and engaging and he works across all sectors of agriculture building long term relationships between himself, the farmer and their soil.
CEO & Founder, Re-Genus
Daniel is an ex-formula 1 engineer with a passion for systems thinking and a family history in horticulture. Daniel has a new-found love of fungi gained from five years researching how to make trees grow better.
Currently running the business and doing a Phd in soil microbiome and impact on crop health.
Riverfly monitor
Former advertising and marketing professional, and a keen fly fisherman for fifty years. Started as a Riverfly monitor eight years ago on the River Mimram, a chalk stream in Hertfordshire, with the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust.
As well as taking entomology courses through the Freshwater Biological Association, he is now a Riverfly monitor on Trout Beck and the River Eden through the Eden Rivers Trust, for whom he also volunteers.
Farmer
Judith Hutchinson
Conventional family (upland) beef & sheep farm transitioning to a regenerative system, juggling family differences in opinions whilst ensuring we can feed both our livestock and ourselves by not losing too much performance along the way.
Founder - The Wild Hare & Wild Chain
Founder of The Wild Hare and Wild Chain, two pioneering ventures reshaping the future of food through sustainability and data. With a passion for ethical sourcing and regenerative agriculture, she launched The Wild Hare to bring traceable, nutrient-rich ready meals to mainstream retailers like Tesco, Ocado and Foodservice customers.
Through Wild Chain, Dominie is building a powerful tech platform that equips food businesses with real-time environmental impact data, from climate change to water usage—driving a new standard of eco-design. Her mission is clear: to prove that better food systems are not only possible, but profitable, scalable, and essential.
Ashlack - Chef
After years working in restaurants and scratch kitchens, Bobby and Jenna returned to Bob’s family farm to open Ashlack - a guesthouse and pop-up restaurant.
Rooted in the land where Bob was raised, Ashlack combines farming with a rustic, seasonal approach to food. They grow vegetables, forage wild ingredients, and raise grass-fed meat, championing biodiversity in the fields & simplicity in the kitchen.
It’s a place where home, farm, and food come together - honest, bold, and shaped by the landscape itself.
Farmer
Nat Marsden
Nat farms in partnership with his brother in the Forest of Bowland Lancashire. 1000 acres of upland pasture and moorland. They run a herd of Luing cattle which are out wintered, with youngstock either brought into the herd or finished on a forage only diet. Sheep are transitioning from a hill and commercial flock to a single white faced composite maternal flock all lambed outdoors.
They have reduced input costs significantly and are focused on building a more resilient business. AMP grazing is used to help improve soil health whilst being in 3 SFI schemes and a HLS scheme.
They have been selling their own beef through a box scheme and are about to open a small farm shop, including a frozen meat vending machine.