Lord Ewen Cameron, morning Chair
Landowner and life peer who sits as a crossbench member of the House of Lords. Lord Cameron was national president of the Country Land and Business Association from 1995 to 1997 and was a member of the UK Government's Round Table for Sustainable Development from 1997 until 2000. He was Chair of the Countryside Agency from 1999 to 2004 and was the UK Government's rural advocate for England from 2000 to 2004. He was appointed High Sheriff of Somerset for 1986 and raised to a life peerage as Baron Cameron of Dillington, in the County of Somerset on 29 June 2004, having been knighted the previous year. He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and of the Royal Agricultural Societies. Between 2010 and 2015, he was President of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists. He has been co-chair of the All-party Parliamentary Group on Agriculture and Food for Development, alongside Tony Baldry MP, since the 2010 election.
Tim Mordan, Deputy Director, Defra
Tim heads up Defra’s Innovation, Productivity and Science team. His responsibilities include developing policies to enhance the UK’s farming productivity and competitiveness as the UK leaves the EU. His role includes sponsorship of AHDB and he sits on the board in an ex officio capacity. He has had various positions in the civil service and was part of the team that introduced the Food Safety Act, he has worked on various aspects of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and as head of the team that had responsibility for trade policy he spent some time as Chair of the International Coffee Organisation and then Chair of the International Cocoa Organisation. Prior to his current role he spent five years as Deputy Director in Defra’s Communications Directorate.
Edward Lott, Kite Consulting
Edward has more than 15 years experience in dairy consultancy and works with a wide range of dairy businesses across the south of England and Wales. Edward's areas of expertise include dairy herd management, business management, cost of production analysis and strategic planning. He works across the industry with dairy farmers, processors and retailers as clients.
Brendan Horan, Moore Park
Brendais a Principal Research Officer in Dairy Production Research with Teagasc, the Agriculture and Food Development Authority of Ireland. He is based at the Animal Grassland and Innovation Centre at Moorepark, Co. Cork where he is responsible for multi-year farm systems research projects and has published widely in the field of grazing dairy systems and their impacts on animal performance, farm system profitability and environmental efficiency. His research interests include the development and evaluation of more resilient systems of dairy production. He holds a PhD in Dairy Science from University College Dublin and an MBA from University College Cork.
Peter Alvis, afternoon Chair
Peter, with his brother and father run the family farming and cheese making business, milking 1,200 cows, 240 of which are farmed organically. Producing 4,500t of cheese per year and packing it ready for the consumer market. Peter believes in the need for a more cooperative supply chain along with a passion for innovation within production and energy use to deliver a more sustainable industry.
Kate Morley, Policy Adviser on Climate Change & Agriculture, Defra
Kate Morley is a policy advisor in the air quality team at Defra leading on agriculture and ecosystems impacts. Kate’s role includes implementation of the measures to reduce ammonia emissions from farming set out in the Clean Air Strategy published in January 2019. Kate joined Defra in 2005 as a scientist and has since worked in policy roles on various areas including EU agriculture, agri-climate and sustainable farm management. Before joining Defra Kate worked as an ecologist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and has a PhD in horticultural entomology.
David Ball, Technical Manager, Livestock Buildings and Environment, AHDB Dairy
After graduating from the Royal Agricultural College in 1980, David has spent his career working in practical dairy farming. Managing a mixed farm with 4 dairy herds totalling 500 cows plus followers, he developed and grew the business whilst gaining a sound knowledge of the requirements of the dairy cow and how these are best provided. After spending 15 years as managing director, David joined the NFU for a short spell to assist with bTB policy implementation. He joined AHDB in 2015 as a Technical Manager focussing on livestock buildings and environmental issues including manure utilisation and ammonia emissions.
David Alvis, Consultant Project Manager to Elsham Linc Ltd
David Alvis is a consultant Project Manager to Elsham Linc Ltd, one of the UK’s largest pig producers, where he is currently overseeing the design, construction and commissioning of slurry acidification systems for 11 of the company’s pig farms in North Lincolnshire. This significant investment is intended to ensure compliance with future Environmental & Air quality regulation as well as driving significant welfare and productivity benefits across the business and its associated arable farming operations
Rachel Cacioppo, Consumer Insight Director, Kantar World Panel
Rachel is a Consumer Insight Director at Kantar, with over 6 years’ experience of working with Grocery manufacturers to uncover shopper and consumer insights across industries such as Confectionery, Soft Drinks and most recently Dairy. Rachel is also a media spokesperson for Kantar, commenting on wider Grocery trends in the media and presenting at conferences such as the Food and Drink Innovation Network and to government bodies, including the Scottish Government and at the House of Lords.
Susie Stannard, Senior Consumer Insight Analyst, AHDB
Susie Stannard has spent 19 years in the market research industry, focussing on consumer insight. She has worked for two of the largest market research agencies (Millward Brown and Nielsen), focusing on the food and drink industries in areas such as brands, advertising, consumer usage and attitudes and how attitudes shape buying behaviour. She also worked for H.J.Heinz, providing insight to support marketing and innovation in the soup, beans and pasta meals categories. For the past two years she has brought these skills to the agriculture sector at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), within the Consumer and Retail insight team, where she focusses on leading insight into the dairy sector.