Poul Hovesen

Poul moved to the UK from Denmark in 1987, joining Salle Farms Company as Farms & Estate Manager.  Arable farming activities at Salle Farms have since increased to 2,000 hectares (ha), growing cereals, oilseed rape, spring beans and sugar beet.  A further 900 ha is owned and farmed in Poland, cropping cereals, oilseed rape and seed potatoes.  In 2011, Poul also became Director of Farming for Holkham Farming Company, managing a further 3,000 ha of arable cropping.  He was an early adopter of precision farming technology, catchment sensitive farming techniques and environmental stewardship schemes, proving that environmental practices can compliment modern intensive agriculture.  He is a member of the local Catchment Sensitive Farming steering group, and was recently awarded the Royal Norfolk Show Association Sir Timothy Colman prize for Outstanding Contribution to Agriculture.

Bill Clark

Bill was appointed as the Commercial Technical Director at NIAB in March 2012.  A plant pathologist by training, he has extensive experience in plant biology and applied plant science and has a special interest in knowledge transfer.  Bill has previously been Director of Broom’s Barn Research Centre (the UK’s national sugar beet research centre in Suffolk) and National Cereal Pathologist for ADAS.  His expertise spans both horticultural and arable crop pathology and during the last 20 years, almost exclusively cereal disease control. He is a prominent public speaker on agricultural issues and is well known for his knowledge of disease control strategies, fungicide activity, fungicide resistance issues and physiological effects of fungicides.  Recent areas of work include cereal disease control, fungicide resistance and effects of fungicides on host physiology and drought tolerance in wheat.

Russell McKenzie

Russell is Farms Manager at D J Tebbit/John Sheard Farms, farming on heavy clay in Cambridgeshire.  He is an experienced farm manager and partner in the business looking after some 750 hectares of combinable crops comprising wheat, oilseed rape and beans, and fighting the increasing battle with black-grass.  He graduated from Writtle College with a BSc in Agriculture and is also BASIS and FACTS qualified, so undertakes the agronomy across the farms.  He has recently been awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to study ‘Direct Drilling Mastering Extreme Weather Conditions’.  Through this he hopes to broaden his understanding of direct seeding techniques and learn how other countries cope with the most demanding of conditions.  Scheduled travels for the project include Australia, the Czech Republic, America, Brazil and Argentina.

Richard Anscombe

Richard is Chief Executive Officer of farmer-owned Cooperative Fram Farmers and winner of the East Anglian Daily Times Business Awards Director of the Year Award 2013.  A commercially astute business leader, experienced across a diverse range of business sectors, he has a wealth of knowledge in Sales and Marketing, Finance, Business Change, Systems Implementation, Information Technology, Human Resources and Legal/Contractual issues.  Focused on understanding and fulfilling customers’ requirements, he is an intuitive innovator, critical thinker and natural team leader.

Andrew Barr

Andrew is an arable farmer based at East Lenham Farm in Kent, a family farm involving various enterprises, which he runs with his brother and parents.  Arable cropping covers approximately 450 hectares with crops including wheat, oilseed rape, spring barley and oats.  The business is a member of LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming) and is working toward LEAF Marque certification.  Biodiversity is encouraged by planting of rough grasses, flower and nectar mixes and bird food on field margins and corners.  Andrew has a degree in Natural Sciences from Durham University and later trained in farming for a year at Royal Agricultural College (now University).  He is BASIS and FACTS qualified and is Chairman of the NIAB TAG Kent Technical Committee.  He is also on the NFU Crops Board.