Meet the NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board

Martin is a director of Farplants Group, which grows and markets more than 2,000 plant varieties and generates more than £22 million wholesale sales annually.

He is the Technical and Sustainability Director for Huntapac Produce Ltd. A fourth generation family-owned business based in Southport, Huntapac supplies the major retailers specialises in root vegetables production.

Stephen has been with the business since 2006, but his career in fresh produce spans more than 20 years and a total of 36 years in the food industry.

He is a third-generation farmer who grows 650 acres of processing and crisping potatoes in Ryedale, North Yorkshire along side his brother and son.

Barfoots produces field scale vegetables over 7500 acres in the UK, some protected cropping, and from farming operations around the world.

Julian is a regular spokesperson for the industry and is frequently interviewed on radio and TV.

He has worked at Thanet Earth since the earliest days of the project in 2008 as part of the leadership team on site. He has helped develop a cutting edge, fully functioning greenhouse complex.

Rob is responsible for all aspects of product quality, sustainability, research projects, innovation, varietal development, environment and food safety.

He is a graduate of Writtle University College where he studied horticulture, agriculture and business, gaining an MBA in 2004. He spent 13 years on the board at Writtle completing his time as chair of F&G and vice chair of the board. He is a 2006 Nuffield farming scholar.

Chris has a depth of experience dealing directly with senior level politicians and all forms of media where he has spoken extensively on labour and water related issues. He has been instrumental in developing a successful soft fruit business at Wilkin & Sons where he has worked for the last 20 years. This sits alongside and compliments their extensive fruit production for processing in their onsite factory. He currently chairs the Awards Council of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers.

He is a member of the management team for the Cut Flower Centre and has been an AHDB horticulture board member and crop panellist.

The farm covers around 2,500 hectares of land where he uses the latest techniques to produce high-quality market fresh root vegetables, packing potatoes and onions.

The main site at Brandon Fields includes two vegetable packhouses and employs around 80 full-time employees alongside seasonal staff.

They produce tomatoes and cucumbers in highly sustainable, renewable heated greenhouses in Cambridge, Norwich and Sussex, supplying to most of the UK supermarkets. 

Jon’s responsibilities at GHG cover energy management, sustainability, compliance and governance as well as projects to improve how and what we do.

His 18 years as a consultant with Farm Energy and then NFU Energy set him up well for this, although working on the other side of the fence has been an intense learning curve!

She is very much hands on in the business, being involved in production planning, crop growing and agronomy along with harvesting and technical matters, working closely on a daily basis with all staff in all areas of the business.

Kathryn is also a director of Flavourfresh Salads – a business growing specialty tomatoes and soft fruit, which is also in part family ownership.

Kathryn is also engaged with the NFU lowland peat taskforce at a regional level and heavily involved in several Defra projects and others related to re-wetting of peatland, paludiculture and raised water table farming.

Prior to joining the family business, she qualified as a chartered surveyor and continues to maintain her MRICS (Chartered Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) professional qualifications in addition to FACTS (Fertiliser Advisers Certification and Training Scheme) and agronomist qualifications.

Kathryn is also keen to support next generations through her roles as a school governor at the local rural primary school and as a committee member of Lancashire Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs.

Edward, who works off an 80 hectare farm, sells potatoes through a number of merchants to fish and chip shops. 

He grows on a combination of owned land, permanently rented, contract farmed and single crop rented land. 

The company also runs a large supply chain business coordinating the supply of processing potatoes to a range of customers.

The company is part of Top Farms Group who have farming operations in Europe.

Their principle farming enterprise is sheep together with a number of beef and cattle. In 2008, they also diversified into the wine production business.

Hattingley Valley is now one of the country's leading producers of sparkling wine and exports to more than 15 countries around the world. Simon was founding chairman of WineGB (the UK producer organisation) for five years and now chairs Hattingley.

Before taking up farming, Simon was a corporate and commercial lawyer in the City of London for more than 35 years with a wide range of clients in various industries, retiring in 2013.