Oxford Farming Conference Directors and Honorary Advisors
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MIKE GOODING - CHAIRMAN (Oxfordshire) Mike was born in Guildford and spent his early years in farming on the chalk of Hampshire. He graduated from Seale Hayne Agricultural College in the late 1980s and has spent his career in agricultural marketing and public relations, with particular involvement in the livestock sector, farmer owed trading businesses and food processing. As Managing Director of FAI Farms Ltd and its sister business – Woodland – he responsible for commercial farming operations based at Wytham in Oxfordshire, along with research and development programmes, and consultancy that focuses on future sustainable agriculture. |
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VINCENT HEDLEY LEWIS - Honorary Treasurer (Lincolnshire) |
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ANDREW BROWN (Leicestershire) Andrew Brown is a Rutland farmer born and bred and his family have been farming in the area for over 300 years. The farm is 60% arable and 40% permanent pasture. He is currently NFU East Midlands Chairman, sits on their communications committee and writes a farming blog for their web site. He has won several local, regional and national awards for his conservation work whilst maintaining a viable and productive commercial farm. He hosts school trips on farm and goes into schools to promote British food and farming. He sits on the Farmers Club Committee, , the Commercial Farmers Group, a director of the Oxford Farming Conference and is a member of the Institute of Agricultural Management, the Worshipful Company of Farmers and has achieved the status of Chartered Environmentalist. Productive farming and good conservation practise go hand in hand on the farm and sharing this with the public is seen as paramount. |
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DAVID DOUGLAS (Ayrshire) A native of Ayrshire, graduated from Edinburgh University with a degree in Agriculture. Joined SAC and spent nearly 12 years in Agribusiness consultancy with them in Scotland. Moved to Clydesdale Bank in 1987 and have held various roles involving credit, business development and team leadership. Responsible for driving the bank's Agribusiness expansion strategy in England in the last 10 years and took up the current position of Regional Director and Head of Rural Business in April 2006. Still live in Ayrshire on a small sheep farm, running a small flock of pedigree Lleyn ewes. |
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JULIAN GAIRDNER (London) |
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JOHN GILES (Berkshire) John Giles is a Divisional Director of Promar International –the agri food value chain consulting subsidiary of Genus plc. Educated at University College Swansea in the early 1980s, he has been with the company for over 18 years. In this time, he has carried out supply chain analyses, business planning, evaluation and feasibility assignments across a wide range of areas within the agri food sector. John Giles has also worked extensively throughout the UK and on assignments in some 40 other countries, including other Continental EU markets, Russia, the FSU and Eastern Europe, Brazil, China, India, New Zealand, Australia, the Middle East, Chile, the Caribbean, East and South Africa, Mexico, the US and Canada. This includes work in the dairy, meat, fish, horticultural, cereals, soyabean, rice and processed foods and drink sectors. John Giles has in the past been appointed a Visiting Fellow at the School of Agriculture, Food and the Environment at Cranfield University, and is also Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Food, Drink and Agriculture Group. He is a Member of the Institute of Agricultural Management – he is a member of the National Council. He has recently been made an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. He is also a member of the Agricultural Economics Society. |
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TOM HIND (Bedfordshire) Tom Hind is Head of Economics and International Affairs at the NFU, responsible for running the organisation's Economics team and leading on international and European policy for the NFU. Having joined the NFU in 1998, he has held a number of positions including Chief Dairy Adviser and Director of the British Agriculture Bureau in Brussels. Tom was brought up in Sheffield and has a background spanning an urban and farming upbringing. His interests include fishing, walking and cooking and he holds an honours degree in politics and French from Warwick University. |
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ADRIAN IVORY (Perthshire) Adrian Ivory is a beef and arable farmer in Strathmore, Perthshire. Since returning to the farm from Cirencester he has simplified the enterprises to beef and grain which he believes are the most globally competitive products for the farm. Pedigree Charolais and Simmental herds make up half the total herd and significant investment has been made in new genetic bloodlines to produce the best bulls for market needs. Adrian was named Farmer of the Year in 2008 by the Farmers Weekly and has worked closely with Sainsburys, Asda, MacDonalds and ABP to understand retailers needs. |
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NICK TAPP (Kent) |
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RICHARD WHITLOCK (Bedfordshire) Following a long career in agricultural merchanting, Richard now runs his own business advising and representing companies and trade bodies in the arable crop marketing sectors. He is Chairman of the UK post-farmgate grain assurance scheme, TASCC, operated by the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC) and is shortly due to take on the role of UK grain representative at the EU grain association COCERAL. In recent years Richard has been involved in the emerging UK biofuels industry and sits on the DfT’s Expert Working Group on Biofuels. |
Secretary: Ann Newbold (Cumbria)
Media relations & marketing: Jane Craigie (Aberdeenshire)
Marketing and media relations consultant working with a range of clients within the agri-food sector, including BASF plc, Bank of Scotland, DHL Supply Chain, EFFP, Keenan and RAGT. Responsible for OFC marketing. media relations and the OFC website.
Accountants: The Hutchinson Partnership, The Bull Pen, Amberley Court, Sutton St. Nicholas, Hereford HR1 3BX
Bankers: Barclays Bank plc, Britannia Warehouse The Docks, Gloucester GL1 2EH
Solicitors: Mills & Reeve, 1 James Court Whitefriars Norwich Norfolk