Speaker Biographies

Philip Pearson - Chairman of conference

Phil Pearson is the Group Development Director for the APS Group, the largest supplier of British tomatoes to the UK’s major supermarkets, with 70 hectares of glasshouses, on six nurseries, spread across the UK.

Phil has been the driving force for innovation in the business, including the development of new technologies :

·         Combined Heat & Power with CO2 extraction

·         Ground Source cooling/irrigation warming

·         Vertical Farming

·         Robotics, applying AI and machine learning to protected horticulture

·         Novel Anaerobic Digestion technology developed to turn waste leaves and tomatoes into, for example, CO2, transport heat and packaging

 As a Fellow of the Institute of Horticulture and the Chairman of the Technical Committee of the British Tomato Growers’ Association, he has been involved with the implementation of many new technologies in the UK Tomato industry.

 A desire to effect change has also led to work with DEFRA, (where he is a member of the Innovation and R&D Panel), BEIS, (where he drives climate change and energy benefits for protected horticulture) and other Government departments, to raise awareness of the opportunities for our sector, as well as the obvious challenges, including working with Ministers on behalf of the tomato industry in the UK.

Phil is also on the NFU Horticulture and Potato Board, with special responsibility for energy and carbon, (he has been both a HDC and AHDB PE Panel member), and is now also engaging with UKRI, on behalf of the British Tomato industry, and is working directly with BBSRC, EPSRC, and Innovate UK, to drive innovation, and raise awareness of the protected horticulture sector.

JoN Swain - NFU Energy

Jon has been part of the NFU Energy team since 2005 and is now Technical Director. In his time at the company he has worked across the agricultural sectors and has also worked on horticultural energy projects including the use of thermal screens, temperature integration and next-generation growing. Jon has been responsible for the GrowSave program (AHDB Funded KE project delivered by NFU Energy) for the last 8 years which aims to ensure growers have the latest information in respect of energy and climate management matters suitable for their business.

LILLY DA GAMA- wwf

A passionate food systems sustainability expert focusing on food loss and waste throughout the supply chain. I completed my Ph.D. on the role of packaging in mitigating the causes of consumer food waste and how organisations in the food system can better manage the environmental balance between food and packaging waste. Since joining WWF-UK I have worked to raise awareness of farm-stage food loss, its impacts and methods to reduce it. A large part of my work focuses on driving changes in the food system through collaborative efforts from across the supply chain, and increasing awareness of the impacts of food loss and waste through research and education.

TESS HOWE - The Institute of Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH)

Tess is TIAH’s Membership and Business Development Manager. She is responsible for the development of the TIAH membership, including products and services to ensure the industry has relevant and accessible CPD to help them release their full potential.

Tess has worked in the agriculture and horticulture industry for more than 20 years, predominantly in livestock but also in the arable and horticultural sectors.

After graduating with a degree in Agriculture from the University of Newcastle, Tess’ first industry role was as a trainee manager with a large bacon processor. Her job involved learning about every aspect of the business, including liaising with hauliers and farmers, and ensuring that the animal welfare code was adhered to by all suppliers.

Building on her livestock welfare experience, Tess went on to become a Technical Officer with the Humane Slaughter Association, improving the welfare of farmed animals during transport and at slaughter.

Tess then took up a post with BPEX (later to become AHDB Pork), where, as Skills Development Manager, she played an instrumental role in the development and delivery of the national pork training strategy.

In 2012, Tess progressed into the role of AHDB’s Senior Skills Manager. This demanding role covered all farming sectors and focused on improving industry engagement with skills development activities to support thriving agricultural businesses in a rapidly changing market.

In this post, Tess led the pivotal Skills Task Force for the Food & Drink Sector Council’s Agricultural Productivity Working Group. This included development of the strategic case and business plan for a proposed new professional body, which led to the formation of TIAH and her move into her current role.

ABI CLAYTON & JESS NAZAIRE - JACK & GRACE

Abigail Clayton - Account Manager at Jack & Grace communications

Using social media to reach beyond existing audiences is Abi’s specialist subject.

She blends compelling content and strategic social spend to get results.

Jessica Nazaire Account Director at Jack & Grace communications

A behavior change expert, Jess knows how to help organisations find their ‘why’ to increase the impact of their communications.

LEE ABBEY - NFU

Lee Abbey has worked for the National Farmers Union for over 16 years, and for the last 10 years in the Horticulture and Potatoes team.  As Chief Adviser, he works with the national NFU Horticulture & Potatoes board (which has grower members from across the range of horticulture sectors) to develop the NFU’s policy priorities and deliver its strategic aims.  Priorities include securing access to a sufficient seasonal workforce, supporting members in passing on cost inflation, influencing the Defra horticulture strategy, identifying opportunities for members to meet the Net Zero ambition, the development of a horticulture productivity funding scheme, and recognition for horticulture in the ELMS scheme.

DAVE CHANDLER - UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

Dave Chandler is a microbiologist and entomologist working at Warwick University’s School of Life Sciences and at the Warwick Crop Centre, Wellesbourne, Warwickshire. His main research area is the use of biopesticides in Integrated Pest Management. He also studies bee health and use of managed bees for crop pollination, and entomopathogenic fungi as biopesticides.  He has worked at Wellesbourne since 1990. Previous to this, he studied for a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Nottingham, followed by a PhD in mycology at Kings College London and the Glasshouse Crops Research Institute GCRI.  He has been an adviser on IPM to the European Parliament and the US Department of Agriculture.

KEN COCKSHULL - UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK

Ken has spent most of his career studying how plants respond to changes in their aerial environment.  These studies have included investigating the effects of photoperiod and CO2 enrichment on ornamental crops as well as the effects of solar radiation, temperature, and humidity on the growth and yield of tomato crops.  He has kept growers informed of the results of his research via meetings such as this and through articles in grower-oriented publications.  Over the years, Ken has worked at the University of Reading, GCRI Littlehampton, HRI Wellesbourne, he is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at Warwick University.

ROB JACOBSON - RJC Ltd

Dr Rob Jacobson is a long-serving member of the TGA’s Technical Committee with special responsibility for matters related to integrated pest management (IPM) and biological pollination. He has won the ‘Science into Practice’ category at the Grower of the Year Awards for his work on IPM in tomato crops.

Rob has been actively involved with crop protection for over 40 years and has specialised in biological pest control in glasshouse crops for over 35 years. He has experience as an extension worker for the UK government, Technical Manager for a biocontrol producer and Research Leader with the UK’s largest horticultural research organisation. Rob has operated as an independent consultant since 2005 with clients as far afield as Australia and New Zealand.

Rob has been involved with the commercial use of bumblebees since 1989 and introduced many British growers to biological pollination in the early 1990s.

In addition, he is a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, a Research Associate at Lancaster University and the previous Convenor of the Association of Applied Biologist’s IPM Group

SIMON PEARSON - UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN

Simon Pearson is Professor of Agri-Food Technology Research. Interests include; A diverse range of agri technology applications, including robotic systems, automation, energy control and management, food safety systems, novel crop development; the environmental physiology of fresh produce and ornamental crops, including impacts on crop quality and development; the post-harvest physiology of vegetables, fruits and cut flowers, including the use of modified atmosphere packaging; the effects of light manipulation on crop growth and development, including the development and application of greenhouse spectral filters and LED lighting systems; the development of on farm decision support systems from remote sensing information; the development of pre and post farm gate supply and demand forecasting systems.

JIM DUNWELL - UNIVERSITY OF READING

Jim is Professor of Plant Biotechnology in the School of Agriculture at the University of Reading. He previously worked at the John Innes Institute, and at ICI Seeds (Zeneca Plant Sciences), at Jealott’s Hill. His research interests include the molecular genetic responses of plants to biotic and abiotic stress. Jim has a longstanding interest in the development and regulation of biotech products, including GMOs and those produced through new breeding techniques. He also chairs the Defra Advisory Committee for Releases to the Environment (ACRE), the group that advises the UK government on the field testing and cultivation of GM and related crops.

ADRIAN FOX - FERA

Adrian Fox is the Senior Plant Virologist at Fera Science Ltd, in York. Fera is the National Reference Laboratory for Plant Health in England and Wales.

After gaining a BSc in Applied Biology (Plant & Environmental Sciences) from Nottingham Trent University, UK. Adrian went on to spend 11 years working at SASA, Edinburgh where he worked in both virology and agricultural zoology in support of the Scottish seed potato certification scheme. In 2008 Adrian moved to Fera to head the Plant Virology team. The main bulk of the work of the team is testing in support of UK plant biosecurity and offering plant diagnostic testing services to other governments and commercial clients. In 2019 Adrian was awarded a Ph.D. by published works from the University of Warwick, UK.

Adrian’s main research focuses are the application of novel diagnostic techniques to improve the detection and diagnosis of plant viruses and investigating the epidemiology of insect and seed-transmitted viruses in support of plant health risk assessment. His current research portfolio includes investigating the epidemiology of carrot viruses, developing High-Throughput Sequencing for plant biosecurity, and using historic virus isolate collections to close the knowledge gaps generated by HTS. He is also the lead investigator on recent AHDB-funded work looking at the survival and disinfection of tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) and sits on the UK ToBRFV steering group.

Adrian is a Chartered Biologist and a registered Senior Plant Health Professional. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed papers, New Disease Reports and book chapters. He is a member of the EPPO Panel on Diagnostics in Virology and Phytoplasmology, a member of the International Committee on Plant Virus Epidemiology and is the current chair of the Virology Section of the European Association of Potato Research.