The Oxford Farming Conference

Bill Clark

Bill Clark is the Director of Broom’s Barn Research Centre, based near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.  The centre is devoted to applied crop science research, mainly in arable crops and specialising in sugar beet.  Broom’s Barn is part of Rothamsted Research.

Formerly the ADAS National Cereal Pathologist, his expertise spans arable crops pathology and during the last 20 years, almost exclusively cereal disease control. He is well known for his knowledge of disease control strategies, fungicide activity, physiological effects of fungicides, fungicide resistance issues and seed health.

His arrival as the new director in 2007 changed the direction of research at Broom’s Barn that traditionally had a sole reputation for research into sugar beet.  The research centre now has an increasing focus on all major UK arable crops.  Examples of new work areas include cereal disease control, fungicide resistance, new fungicides effects on host physiology and biofuel production.

Jeffrey Currie

Jeffrey Currie is the global head of Commodities Research in the Global Investment Research division of Goldman Sachs. He is responsible for conducting research on commodity market dynamics in the context of corporate risk management programs, short and long-term commodity investment strategies and asset allocation. Jeff joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 and was named managing director in 2002 and partner in 2008.

Prior to joining the firm, Jeff taught undergraduate and graduate level courses in Microeconomics and Econometrics at the University of Chicago and served as the associate editor of Resource and Energy Economics. He also worked as consulting economist, specialising in energy and other microeconomic issues at Ernst and Young, LLP and Economic Insight, Inc. In addition, he has advised numerous government agencies in the US, EU and Russia.

Jeff earned a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1996.

Matthew Dempsey

Matt Dempsey is Editor of the Irish Farmers Journal and is also Chief Executive of the Agricultural Trust, publishers of the Journal and the Irish Field.  He is a former President of the European Agricultural Publishers Association and the Irish Grassland Association. He is Chairman of the Board of the RDS.  Also, Matt is a past Chair of the National Agricultural Research Institute and ACOT, the national advisory and education body before their amalgamation into Teagasc. A graduate in Agricultural Science from UCD, he also runs an intensive tillage and beef farm in Co Kildare. In 2010, Matt was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science from University College Dublin.

Angharad Evans

Angharad Evans is in the final stages of her MSc in International Rural Development at the Royal Agricultural College. Her specialist pathway is in Sustainable Agriculture, centring around Food Security and Malnutrition. She is the Young Advocate for Agriculture 2010, following a debating competition at Cereals in June. Angharad is very enthusiastic about the future of agriculture, food and water security especially in relation to climate change.

She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Sheffield, with a Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons) in 2009. While there she was the Vice Chair of Union Council and President of Debating. Moreover she enjoyed raising money for local charities via RAG, even completing a fire walk and re releasing 'Do they know it's Christmas?'.

Angharad has always been passionate about the environment and has been an enthusiastic learner throughout the MSc, and is now looking forward to new challenges.

John Humphrys

John Humphrys is one of Britain’s best-known and most controversial broadcasters. He has been a journalist for more than half a century. He was BBC TV’s youngest foreign correspondent and has anchored most frontline news and current affairs programmes on both television and radio.

He has won just about all the national broadcasting awards including the “Oscar of Oscars”: the Sony Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement.  The citation read: “He has truly changed the face of radio and the nature of the radio interview for an entire generation.”

But he has also achieved something else. He has become a hate figure in his time for both major political parties with his style of interviewing.

Apart from his broadcasting work John writes books (seven so far) and newspaper columns. He has set up his own charity - the Kitchen Table Charities Trust. He also presents Mastermind.

Sir Paul Judge

Educated at Cambridge and the Wharton Business School, Sir Paul Judge worked at Cadbury Schweppes for 13 years. In 1985 he initiated and led the £97 million buyout of the company’s food businesses to form Premier Brands, later sold to Hillsdown Holdings and now the UK’s largest food manufacturing company. He was subsequently a government appointed member of the Milk Marketing Board and Chairman of Food from Britain, which led to him being voted “Food Industry Personality of the Year”.

A former DG of the Conservative Party, Sir Paul has also been ministerial adviser at the UK Cabinet Office. Directorships have included WPP, Boddington Group and Grosvenor Development Capital.

He is currently an Alderman of the City of London, President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Association of MBAs, Chairman of Schroder Income Growth Fund and was key benefactor of the Judge Business School at Cambridge University. 

George Lyon

George Lyon was elected as Scotland's liberal democrat MEP in 2009. From a 7th generation tenant farming family on the Isle of Bute, George became a Nuffield Scholar in 1986 and travelled to New Zealand and Australia to study Farming without Subsidies.

In 1989 he was elected Chair of Bute area of NFU Scotland. In 1994 he was elected Chair of the NFU's Animal Welfare Committee and Vice President in 1996, playing a significant role in the BSE crisis. He was elected President of NFU Scotland in 1998 and a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society in 2001.

In 1999 George became MSP for Argyll & Bute at the first Scottish Parliament elections. He was elected Convenor of the first Scottish Liberal Democrat Parliamentary group and was Party spokesperson for Enterprise, Justice and Land Reform. In 2003 he was re-elected and served as Chief Whip and then Deputy Finance Minister.

Chris Mack

Chris Mack is Executive Chairman of Fresca Group Ltd. A graduate of Wye College, Chris worked for an apple grower before becoming the fourth generation of his family to join M&W Mack Ltd in 1978 where he worked in the company’s wholesale division and all around its fast-growing supermarket supply business before he became managing director in 1988.

Under his leadership, parent company Fresca Group was formed in 2005, allowing the business to undertake a progressive programme of acquisitions and strategic joint ventures.

Still privately owned, the 12 companies in the Group now handle fresh produce sales of some £450m. They have recently ventured into growing – most notably through the high profile Thanet Earth greenhouse development in Kent, a £100m investment in British horticulture.

Gregor Mackintosh

Gregor Mackintosh established Mackintosh of Glendaveny in 2009 after graduating. The idea of producing Extra Virgin “cold pressed” rapeseed oil came during his honours year at the Scottish Agricultural College in Aberdeen where he carried out a study and saw an opening in the market for this product. He farms from his father’s farm in Glendaveny, Aberdeenshire.  His business has been a finalist in the Grampian Food Forums Commitment to Healthy Eating, most innovative new retail product award, as well as the Grampian enterprise for Business Awards.   Gregor was in the final three for the UK shell live wire ‘Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award’ and named the Grampian Young Entrepreneur of the year at the PSYBT awards.

His products have been used and promoted by top chefs as well as supplying to Buckingham Palace after meeting Her Majesty the Queen and Prince Charles.

Professor Aubrey Manning OBE

Professor Aubrey Manning is recognised as one of the country’s leading authorities on animal behaviour. A familiar face around the Ashworth Laboratories, he has presented numerous BBC television and radio programmes on natural history - recently he could be heard on the Radio 4 series The Sounds of Life and The Rules of Life.

He is also co-author of An Introduction to Animal Behaviour. Professor Manning gained a degree in Zoology at University College London before completing a doctorate in animal behaviour at Oxford University supervised by the legendary Niko Tinbergen.

He became an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and rose to Professor of Natural History in 1971, a position he retained until retirement in 1997.

Recognition of his contribution came in 2003 with the Zoological Society of London Silver Medal. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and was awarded an OBE in 1998.

Jim McCarthy

Jim McCarthy is a first generation farmer, having trained as a farm manager began farming for himself in the late nineteen eighties.Was Irish arable farmer in 1987. In 1996 was granted one of the first Nuffield farming scholarships. He was instrumental in setting up a 10,000Hectare business in Australia.

In 2005 he was one of the founding partners of Agroterra Ireland which raised $56,000,000 in london and Dublin buying 12,300 Hectares of double cropping in Argentina. Today he is the CEO of Blue Yulan SA Luxembourg, and a director of Agricultural Capital Partners. He is also a shareholder in a large dairy farm business in the USA. He is a vocal advocate of  Biotechnology in agriculture and Notill farming

Jonathon Porritt

Jonathon Porritt, Co-Founder of Forum for the Future, is an eminent writer, broadcaster and commentator on sustainable development.  Established in 1996, Forum for the Future is now the UK’s leading sustainable development charity.

He is Co-Director of The Prince of Wales's Business and Sustainability Programme, a Non-Executive Director of Wessex Water and of Willmott Dixon Holdings.  He is a trustee of the Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy and is involved in the work of many NGOs and charities

Jonathon’s involvement in the Green Movement started in the mid-1970s when he joined the Green Party becoming co-Chair in 1980, a position he held until he took over as Director of Friends of the Earth in 1984.

In 2000 Jonathon  received a CBE for services to environmental protection and he was appointed by Tony Blair as the first Chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, a position he held for nine years.

Dr Marcelo Secco

Dr Marcelo Secco Arias is Commercial Director of Tacuarembó / Marfrig Group, internationally well-known beef producer situated in the middle of the most important cattle-raising region of Uruguay. Previously, he was Director of Planning and New Business. He is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and Meat Technology from Uruguay University and University of Minnesota, USA.

Between 2000 and 2006 he was Operations Manager in Frigorífico Tacuarembó. Also in 2000, he was a Member of the National Committee on Traceability. From 1995 to 2001 he was responsible for Livestock Purchase at the Tacuarembó plant.

He was also Director of Organic Beef and Lamb Program in Frigorífico Tacuarembó SA. Dr. Secco is also currently a member of INAC (National Meat Institute). He is married with four children.

John Shropshire OBE

John Shropshire is CEO of the Shropshire Group of companies which now has sales of £300m per annum in the UK and throughout Europe.  Integral to its business is its expertise in growing with its own farming operations in the UK, Czech Republic and Spain producing over 9,000 hectares of salad and vegetable crops supplying half of group sales.  The remainder is sourced from 30 other committed growers world-wide.

The Group employs over 4,000 people and has won several national industry awards recognising its progress in technical and product innovation, exports and environmental management.

After gaining a BSc Hons in Agriculture at Newcastle University in 1976, John joined the family farming and marketing business that had been founded by his father in 1952.  He is married to Trish, and they have four children, three of whom work in the business with the fourth still in full-time education.

Brendan Smith

Born Cavan, June 1956. Married to Anne McGarry. Educated Bawnboy National School, St. Camillus College, Killucan, Co. Westmeath and UCD (B.A. in Politics and Economics). Full time Public Representative and former Advisor to Government Minister. Brendan Smith has been a Dáil Deputy since 1992. Brendan was re-elected to the 30th Dáil in June 2007 and was promoted to the position of Minister for Children. After the election of Brian Cowen T.D. as Taoiseach Brendan Smith was promoted to Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food with special responsibility for Food and Horticulture since Sept. ’04. Co-Chairman of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body ’02 – Sept. ’04 and also Member of the Dáil Committee on Procedure and Privileges until Sept. ‘04. In the 28th Dáil, Brendan was Government Whip on Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs. Former Advisor to the former Tánaiste, John P. Wilson, for 15 years. Served as a member of the Co. Cavan Vocational Education Committee including Chairman of the Board of Management of Cavan College of Further Studies and Chairman of the Board of Management of Virginia Vocational School.

David Speller

David Speller won Farmers Weekly Poultry Farmer of the Year in 2009. Having developed his Applied Poultry site in Debyshire for five years, without any previous experience of chickens, it is now used as a showcase by many including Moy Park and the NFU. Applied Poultry has won the Moy Park annual efficiency award for Ashbourne Factory for two out of three years.

Having completed an agriculture degree at Harper Adams, David started in arable farm management becoming an assistant manager for a fresh produce grower/packer supplying the UK’s major retailers.  From there he moved on to a more traditional family farm giving direct responsibility for fresh produce. David then set out on his own as a technical consultant assisting an established agronomy company in fresh produce before diversifying into farm and food factory auditing and going on to purchase an old broiler farm and redeveloping the site.

Caroline Spelman

Caroline Spelman, Secretary of State for the Department of Agricultural, Food and Rural Affairs, has been the Member of Parliament for Meriden since 1997. In Opposition, she served in the Shadow Cabinet, covering the Environment, International Development and Communities and Local Government portfolios, as well as holding other senior posts.

Before entering Parliament, Caroline had an extensive career in the agriculture sector, with 15 years in the agriculture industry and in-depth experience of the international arena, including as deputy director of the International Confederation of European Beet Growers and a research fellow for the Centre for European Agricultural Studies. She has also authored a book on the non-food use of agricultural products.

Caroline is fluent in French and German and holds a BA First Class in European Studies from Queen Mary College. She is married with three children.

Richard Thomas

With a degree in Agricultural Marketing from Harper Adams, Richard Thomas now runs the family farm with his father. He is passionate about traditional farming, working with nature and the environment to produce food for local outlets.

Having been Chairman of the local Young Farmer’s Club, Lugg Valley, and then County Chairman, he is now West Midland Area Chairman. Most of his public speaking experience has come from taking part in after dinner speeches and brainstrust competitions like Question Time, as well as giving stock judging reasons. Richard represented Herefordshire NFU at the Oxford Farming Conference in 2009 and won a Magnum of Champagne for the best speech from the floor at the union debate.

Chris Warkup

Chris Warkup, in 2009, was appointed the Director of the new Technology Strategy Board Biosciences Knowledge Transfer Network that serves the Agriculture, Food and Industrial Bioscience sectors (hosted by the not-for-profit business that was Genesis Faraday).

Chris is a member of the BBSRC Bioscience Skills and Careers Panel and a member of the National Standing Committee on Farm Animal Genetic Resources, a trustee of the Roslin Foundation and chairman of the Genomia seed-fund and co-ordinator of two large EU research consortia working on livestock genomics.

From a farming background in East Yorkshire, Chris graduated in Animal Science from London University. He joined the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) where he had a key role in the development of MLC’s Blueprints for meat quality and had responsibility for the national genetic evaluations of beef cattle and sheep. In 2003 he was seconded to be Director of the new Genesis Faraday Partnership.