Adele Jones

  Sustainable Food Trust

  Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Adele Jones is Deputy CEO at the Sustainable Food Trust. She has been with the SFT since 2013, and now oversees the organisation's strategic activities. In recent years, one of her major focuses has been the development of a project called the Global Farm Metric - an internationally common framework for measuring on-farm sustainability. She is currently an advisor to the Scottish Government. In 2020 she undertook a part time secondment with the Welsh Government, and in 2019 she completed a part-time secondment with DEFRA, both times working to develop metrics for monitoring the new post-Brexit farm support schemes. Previous to these roles, Adele has a background in geography and soil science.

Alan Beech

  Clarke Energy

  Sales Director - UK & Ireland

Alan joined Clarke Energy in 2019, having over 30 years’ experience within the energy and power generation industry. Clarke Energy is a power projects specialist, delivering gas powered electrical generation solutions, including CHP utilising combustible gas, hydrogen and green gasses. Alan is involved in Clarke Energy’s diversification into complementary renewable technologies, including heat pumps, energy storage, carbon utilisation and load shifting hybrid systems. Alan is a champion of the net-zero journey and an active member of industry trade associations and advisory bodies, advocating the UK’s whole power solution,.

Aled Jones

  NFU Cymru

  President

Aled Jones is an eighth generation dairy farmer and farms near Caernarfon with his son Osian. They run a herd of Holsteins.

Alex Watts

  Fisher German

  Senior Surveyor

Alex joined Fisher German in 2018 after graduating from Harper Adams University, He has been based in the rural sector since then working within the property management and consultancy division but has also more recently been involved in Fisher Germans natural capital team to understand how these emerging markets will impact our clients.

Alex Wilcox Brooke

  Severn Wye Energy Agency

  Project Manager

Alex is a driven and passionate individual with a wide range of experience in environmental, engineering & community project management. Having studied Energy & Sustainability, with a focus on renewable energy technologies, Alex has over 5 years' experience of leading and delivering biomass-based projects, specializing in biochar & carbon management. His working interests include biochar, carbon sequestration, life cycle analysis and broadly the sustainable utilisation of undervalued and waste biomass resources, working passionately towards a net zero future.

Alice Green

  Country Land & Business (CLA)

  Land Use Policy Adviser - Climate and Water

Alice Green is part of the Land Use Policy team. She is responsible for providing member and policy advice on issues related to climate and water. Alice has five years’ experience in the environmental sector. Prior to joining the CLA in 2021, she worked both in consultancy and in-house roles providing sustainability advice across a broad range of topics.

Alistair Walshaw

  Alternative Fuels and Drivelines

  CNH Industrial - Innovation Manager

Alistair’s current role for CNH Industrial is “Innovation Manager for Alternative fuels and Drivelines” within the advanced technology group. He is responsible for identifying external collaboration opportunities to compliment all of the CNH Industrial group sectors. From a farming background he graduated from Harper Adam university and before gaining an MSc from Cranfield. He started his career with Bayer Agrochemicals in the product development arena, working on application methods for new agrochemicals. Following this he joined Ford Tractors, one of the precursor companies of CNH Industrial, and as an international demonstrator and product support specialist he has worked in many countries around the world. He has since held numerous regional and global positions in both the Commercial and Product Development sectors, most recently focusing on off highway emissions legislation/implementation and sustainable alternative fuels. He is a Member of the IAgrE.

Angela  Bywater

  University of Southampton

  BBSRC NIBB Network Co-Manager

Angela has spent 20 years working in AD, with involvement in a number of projects/publications for Welsh government, the Royal Agricultural Society of England, the International Energy Agency and academic journals. She is joint manager of the BBSRC Environmental Biotechnology Network (formerly AD Network), a research project which provides funding and links to more than 1000 academics and industry members. She also is co-owned Methanogen UK who manufactured small farm and micro-scale anaerobic digesters. Projects includes LEAP’s micro-AD project near London’s Kings’ Cross, a ‘dog do gas lamp digester’ and a number of other community projects. She has run her own household digester for 10 years and is part of the University’s ‘Circular Bioeconomy’ team, demonstrating a solar-powered mobile digester and science activities to thousands of people.

Annie Leeson

  Agricarbon

  Chief Executive Officer

Annie is CEO and co-founder of Agricarbon. A former decarbonisation expert, innovation and strategy consultant, marketing manager, and co-founder of the Leesman Index, she was motivated to set up Agricarbon by her frustration at the lack of large scale, nature-based solutions for clients pursuing net zero strategies.

Anthony Curwen

  England Chair at Nature Friendly Farming Network

  Managing Director of Quex Park &

Anthony runs Quex Park, which is a 500-hectare country estate in Kent. The estate grows wheat, oilseed rape, oats, beans, seed peas, grass seed and potatoes. It also has grazing for a suckler beef herd whose meat is sold locally to farm shops. It contracts farms a further 500 hectares and has over 60 hectares under environmental schemes. A programme of diversification was also implemented which includes: a farm shop and restaurant, children’s soft play centre, craft village, adventure (crazy) golf, farm park which includes a maize maze with seasonal Halloween and Christmas attractions, garden nursery, paintball, alpaca walking trails, school for children with multiple disabilities and a forest school, as well as events ranging from classic car days to music festivals. He believes passionately that farming and conservation must have a joint approach and it is essential for the future that the public of all ages need to be informed and enthused about the countryside and its importance for food production and wildlife. He has previously been the Kent NFU chairman and been Trustee Board member of the Kent County Agricultural Society. He is now the England Chair of the Nature Friendly Farming Network.

Arabella Freeman

  Drax Group

  Director of Biomass Strategy

Arabella is a Director at Drax Group responsible for delivering their biomass strategy. This involves identifying biomass to underpin Drax’s long term business areas, such as BECCS and includes looking at alternative fuels to wood pellets, including UK energy crops. Prior to that she was the Head of M&A at Drax. Before joining Drax Arabella worked in the upstream oil & gas industry for 20 years, working for BG Group, Shell and BP. She started her career as a petroleum engineer in the North Sea and US, and then spent 15 years in Mergers & Acquisitions. Arabella is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with an M.Eng from Oxford.

Bean Beanland

  Growth & External Affairs

  Director

Bean has an Honours Degree in Physics from Imperial College, is an Associate of the Royal College of Science, and is a founding member of the Heat Pump Federation (HPF). He has 14-years’ experience in energy and carbon mitigation and in conceptual technology selection, procurement and the installation of mechanical services and renewable technologies. Over this time, Bean has overseen the technology positioning, specification and delivery of a great many heat pump systems, many of which supply heat and potable hot water to Listed and period buildings, and to schools, rural estates and commercial buildings. Bean is a highly active participant in the industry supporting the development of heat pump technology, installer training and standards, and government policy. He is responsible for the lobbying activities of the Heat Pump Federation and for growth in membership. • Heat Pump Federation : Founding member Director for Growth & External Affairs • Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy : Member, Electrification of Heat Task Group Member, Industry Advisory Group on Heat in Buildings Member, Off-Grid Industry Council • Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) : Member, Working Group WG6 on Heat Pump Design Standards & Compliance Member, Stakeholder Advisory Group • Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) : Member, Heat Pump Group Member, Steering Committee for AM17 (application manual on commercial heat pumps) • Energy Networks Association (ENA) : Member, Open Networks Advisory Group • OFGEM : Member, Industry Forum on the Renewable Heat Incentive • Western Power Distribution : Customer Connections Steering Group • Scottish & Southern Electricity Networks : Member, Connections Expert Panel (Commercial/Industrial/Consultant Stakeholder Group) • Building Research Establishment (BRE) : Past member, SAP Industry Forum • Ground-source Heat Pump Association : Past Chair of Council & member, Policy Development Committee

Becky Wheeler

  4R Group

  Business Development Director

Becky is a Chartered Soil Scientist and FACTS Qualified Advisor specialising in waste-derived amendments to agricultural soils. Since completing her PhD at Reading University in 2010, she has put her academic background into practice, working closely with producers, end users and regulators of wastes and by-products. Becky is currently Chair of the REA Organics forum, representing over 200 producers of organic materials

Bill Rees

  Centrica Energy Assets

  Director

Bill Rees is the Director of Centrica Energy Assets and has been at Centrica for 12 years. In 2021, Bill set up Centrica Energy Assets with a £500m Board mandate to develop, build and manage 900MW of new solar & battery assets in the UK by 2026. Prior to joining Centrica Bill worked as a corporate finance analyst for Hawkpoint Partners and has a Mphil in Economics from Cambridge. Bill started life as the son of a dairy farmer in West Wales and continues to have close connections with the farming community and takes a keen interest in rural affairs. Bill now lives in a small village in Oxfordshire with his wife and 2 children.

Caroline Bragg

  ADE

  Policy & Research Director

Caroline is responsible for the development of the Association’s policy work and its research arm, ACE-Research – working closely with members and policymakers to promote the sustainable development of the decentralised energy sector in the UK. Caroline has previous experience in the energy and housing sectors.

Caroline Drummond MBE

  LEAF – Linking Environment And Farming

  Chief Executive

Caroline has been running LEAF since it began in 1991. Her work is dedicated to securing more sustainable farming practices and addressing climate change through Integrated Farm Management (IFM) whilst building better public trust and understanding of farming, food, health and the environment – values that she is personally extremely passionate about. Caroline is actively involved in a wide range of industry partnerships and initiatives across the UK, Europe and Worldwide. Caroline was awarded an MBE for services to sustainable agriculture in 2009 and additionally holds an Honorary Doctorate from Harper Adams University, Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Agricultural University and Nuffield Scholarship. In addition, Caroline has received many prestigious awards in recognition of her lifetime’s work towards achieving sustainability and addressing climate change. Her most recent awards include:. 2018 – RASE National Agriculture Award 2019 – Women Economic Forum Global Award - Women of the Decade – Sustainable Agriculture 2019 – Farmers Weekly Lifetime Achievement Award In addition to her work at LEAF Caroline is also a helping hand on the family run dairy farm in Liskeard, Cornwall.

Catherine Clark

  Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)

  Senior Policy Advisor

Catherine is a Senior Policy Advisor at BEIS, with experience managing complex policy delivery, specialising in climate change and energy.

Charlotte Powell

  BEIS

  Head of BioEnergy and Carbon Removals - Innovation

Charlotte Powell is a Chartered Engineer with extensive experience in commercialising renewable technologies, particularly Anaerobic Digestion or organic matter. As Operations Director of Monsal Ltd, she and her team designed and built utility scale AD Plants for clients such as Wessex Water, Suez and EnriCH4. Charlotte joined BEIS at the start of 2021 to lead their newly formed, BioEnergy Innovation team. She is now focussed on ensuring that the UK has a robust BioEnergy supply chain to meet the demands of the “Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution”

Chris Chapman

  Bavenhill Environmental Ltd

  Director

Chris Lyons

  Innovate UK

  Innovation Lead For Agriculture

Career spanning agriculture and innovation business support. Initially starting in rural estate management, through to delivering and managing regional development programs, to managing European Innovation support and most recently becoming agricultural lead at Innovate UK whilst continuing to run and develop the family farm. #

Chris Morris

  Fre-Energy Ltd

  Technical Director

Innovation being Chris’s driver and having been pivotal in the design, development and commercialisation of patented technology, under his Technical Directorship, Fre-energy has installed many small-scale waste AD systems throughout the UK. Chris’s depth of experience, technical skills and management capabilities are widely respected. He is involved in several industrial and academic collaborative projects looking at valorisation and the circular economy.

Christian Nightingale

  Lely Atlantic Ltd

  Commercial Sales Support, Barn Equipment

Over 30 years working in the agricultural industry, predominantly machinery based with dealers and major tractor manufacturers.

Colin Tosh

  Organic Research Centre

  Senior Agroforestry Researcher

Colin spent the first 20 years of my career working in the UK university system as a cognitive ecologist with a long term interest in insect crop pests and their interaction with host plants. Have now moved into organic agricultural research in the area of agroforestry at the Organic Research Centre, Gloucestershire. Agroforestry is a discipline that investigates the potential for incorporating trees into agricultural environments to improve the productivity and resilience of crops and livestock and biodiversity of the agroecosystem.

Colum Ryan

  Eco Mirage

  Commercial Projects Director

Colum is currently the Operations Director for Eco Mirage. His experience in the past ten years has seen him responsible of over 20MGW of Solar PV installations through Power purchase agreements with Hanwa Cells, REI & Zestec. Colum is actively involved with the installations of projects across the South West UK supporting the South West GFirstLEP business energy group. These projects include Solar & Heat Storage for Gloucester Airport, Bromford Housing Association, Local Councils and the Active Build Centre Gloucestershire. Colum has also been involved with the Ministry of Defense heat recovery program, which saw the Royal Naval fleet heat recovery feasibility study save over £5 million with Sunamp Technology. To date Colum has been working with Innovate UK edge and the Department for International Trade, to support the Horticultural Development Council of Zimbabwe for the delivery of a renewable cold chain logistics for post-harvest solution to waste.

Dan Robinson

  Eurofins Agro Testing UK & Ireland

  Managing Director

Daniel Robinson is the Managing Director of Eurofins Agro Testing UK & Ireland. Coming from a farming background in Northumberland, Dan has 20 years’ experience in the agricultural industry, both nationally and internationally, with a particular interest in technology solutions that can help farming become more efficient and profitable.

Darren Edwards

  Fisher German

  Head of Sustainable Energy

Darren is Head of Sustainable Energy at Fisher German. A chartered surveyor, he has worked in the sector now for over 15 years. He advises clients including fellow professionals and financiers around the UK on a range of energy and sustainability projects and solutions.

David Kinnersley

  Fisher German

  Head of Agribusiness

David is the Head of Agribusiness for Fisher German and is their expert in anaerobic digestion within the Fisher German Sustainable Energy Team. The Fisher German Agri Business team provide farm consultancy and management services over 750,000 ac in the UK and advise clients on financial management, regenerative agriculture practices, carbon auditing and environmental schemes.

David Watson

  Cadent Gas

  Head of Energy Transition

David has worked for over twenty years in the energy industry, predominantly in senior regulatory, policy and strategy leadership roles. Most recently he spent four years as Director, Group Strategy shaping Centrica's strategy, pivoting them from an upstream company with a large customer book to an organisation focused on delivering net zero for homes and businesses across the UK and US - helping write their decarbonisation strategy across power, transport and heat along the way. David then moved on to run Heat Trust, championing the interests of those who live and work on heat networks, and working closely with Government to shape the design of the new heat network market framework. He is now Head of Energy Transition for Cadent, the UK’s largest gas distribution company, helping transition their network away from natural gas and to clean alternatives such as hydrogen.

Dr Anthony Hopkins

  NFU

  Chief Combinable Crops Adviser

Dr Chris Mann

  Bennamann Ltd

  Co-Founder, Chairman & Chief Technology Officer

Dr Chris Mann is the Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer of Bennamann Ltd. He is an applied physicist spending the early part of his career working in the Space sector developing sensors used to help establish the presence of the ozone hole and the early onset of climate change. In 2004 he co-founded ThruVision Ltd using this sensing technology to demonstrate the world’s first passive terahertz security camera. He remains their Chief Scientific Advisor. Passionate about the environment, in 2011 he Co-Founded Bennamann to commercialise a highly innovative non-venting liquid methane storage system. This game changing technology forms the backbone of Bennamann’s disruptive exploitation model. He has over 20 patents and patent applications.

Dr Jonathan Scurlock

  NFU

  Chief Advisor, Renewable Energy and Climate Change

Since 2007, Jonathan Scurlock has led on analysis and advice about energy and climate change to the NFU's management, office holders and members.  His background includes university and government research on energy and climate policy, plant physiology, bioenergy and other renewables.  He was educated at Oxford and London, and is a Visiting Fellow at the Open University.  

Dr Kiara Zennaro

  Renewable Energy Association (REA)

  Head of REA Biogas Group

Kiara Zennaro - Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (REA) currently heads the heat team of the REA, overseeing the activities of the REA focused on the challenge of decarbonising heat. She also leads the Green Gas Forum of the REA, which has represented the green gas industry in the UK since 2004, playing a major role in delivering the expansion of this sector In the UK. The Forum’s scope include green gases such as biogas, biomethane and clean hydrogen.

Edmund Bailey

  Baileys and Partners

  Director

Ed Bailey is a Director of Baileys and Partners (B&P). B&P was established in 2014 and is a bilingual chartered surveying practice based in Snowdonia that offers specialist professional services in Energy, Leisure, Farm and Utility sectors. The practice is regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and we have three registered valuers, one accredited civil commercial mediator and a renewable energy engineer in house. B&P have considerable expertise in hydropower, tidal energy, wind, solar, heat pumps and hydrogen having promoted sites from conception, through design, planning and build. Uniquely to B&P, profits achieved in the practice are reinvested into the sectors within which they advise.

Eliot Dixon

  Agri-EPI Centre

  Data & Automation Lead

Eliot has an extensive background in robotics, sensors and data engineering, with experience from working in the academia, defence and automotive sectors. Prior to joining Agri-EPI Centre, he was Lead Software Engineer in autonomous vehicles at Tata Motors UK including developing a fully autonomous vehicle. Other experience includes radar and drone research within the MoD, and robust robotics system development at the University of Birmingham. Eliot’s combination of a family arable farming background and technical experiences give him a keen interest in bringing the best of robotics and data science from other industries into Agri-Tech. At Agri-EPI Centre he is leading the creation of our new data-based farming testbed along with being the technical adviser for robotics and data-centric projects.

Elizabeth Stockdale

  NIAB

  Head of Farming Systems and Agronomy Research

Elizabeth Stockdale has over 25 years applied soil and nutrient management research experience and has engaged with a wide range of research projects connected with the study of nutrient cycling in soils and with the environmental impact of farming systems – mainly she likes to play nicely with mud. Most recently she has been very active in developing farmer-focussed approaches to measurement of soil health and development of on-farm methods for improved soil management.

Estelle Limon

  Regen

  Policy Coordinator

Estelle is a Policy and Impact Coordinator at Regen, working to improve the policy and regulatory environment for renewables and low carbon technologies with the mission to achieve a zero carbon energy system. Prior to joining Regen, Estelle worked at a global policy think tank. She studied at Durham University where she was awarded a first class BA in Geography, with a particular interest in in environmental policy.

Fabia Bromovsky

  Sustainable Food Trust

  Director of Global Farm Metric Project

Fabia Bromovsky is working for the Sustainable Food Trust as Director of the Global Farm Metric, a coalition of farmers, scientists, expert practitioners, food businesses and finance companies working to develop a whole farm framework for measuring sustainability at farm level. The Global Farm Metric is a basket of measurement across environmental, economic and social impacts that can form a baseline of data to unite the language of sustainability, standardise the data collected on-farm and align existing sustainability assessments. Previously she was CEO of the Rothschild Foundation and Waddesdon Manor and board member of the Waddesdon Estate. Fabia is a board member and trustee for a number of family offices, non-executive Director of Whitley Asset Management, Trustee of the Illuminated River Foundation and Director of Waddesdon Wines Limited.

Franco Costantini

  Control Union UK

  Managing DFirector

Franco joined Control Union (UK) in 2016 as Managing Director, and lead the launch of regenagri in 2020. He has worked for about 15 years in the Testing, Inspections and Certifications sector, across a range of industries including agri-food, consumer, industrial. Before then he carried out research work in Aeronautics and Aerospace. Franco holds a Master of Business Administration MBA, a post-grad Research Master (M.Res) in Fluid Dynamics and a Master of Engineering (M.Eng) in Mechanical Engineering.

Gareth Deakin

  Advanced Propulsion Centre

  Senior Project Delivery Lead

Gareth has more than 40 years’ experience working in the Automotive industry, previously with Froude Hofmann, as a supplier of advanced vehicle, engine and powertrain test systems. He has held senior roles including Sales & Marketing Director, Technical Director and Business Development Director. A Mechanical Engineer by training, Gareth has worked on projects worldwide with OEMs, suppliers (large and SME) research organisations and regulators across the product portfolio of motorcycles, cars and commercial vehicles. At the APC, Gareth’s key focus is to provide support to the C R&D collaborative development Projects to help accelerate the transition to a net-zero automotive technology,

Gareth Williams

  Caplor Energy

  Founder

Gareth Williams has a deep rooted and evolving passion for the sustainability agenda. This has led him to develop from his family farming roots into a diversified rural business that includes a renewable energy business, property rental and farming activity based from Herefordshire. Three generations of the Williams family have operated from Caplor since 1923. A wide range of skills and expertise are rooted around his passions and experience based on sound academic input and ongoing personal development. An agricultural graduate in 1990, ongoing development centred on; leadership, management, counselling, financial, public speaking, environmental, local council, UK and overseas energy and sustainable based consultancy. Latterly including Goldman Sachs growth programme at Aston University leading to a position of Visiting Fellow.