Sarah Kendall
Crop Physiologist, ADAS
Sarah has worked at ADAS as a crop physiologist for ten years, after completing her PhD at the University of York. Sarah grew up on an arable farm in East Yorkshire and now lives on a mixed farm in Nottinghamshire. Sarah has a keen interest in understanding factors affecting cereal and oilseed rape yields, and how this understanding can be used by growers to make improvements. She is keen to support growers in optimising their crop nutrition strategies through improved measurements.
Pete Berry
Head of Crop Physiology, ADAS
Pete is Head of Crop Physiology at ADAS where he has worked for 19 years. Before this, he was a researcher and lecturer at the University of Nottingham, where he also gained his PhD on predicting lodging risk in wheat. His aims are to improve the performance of cropping systems and provide sound practical advice for the farming industry based on rigorous and high-quality research. Important areas of his research include increasing crop yields sustainably, optimising crop nutrition, exploiting precision farming technologies and lodging control.
Roger Sylvester-Bradley
Head of Crop Performance, ADAS
After a career spanning more than 40 years, Roger says there has never been a more exciting time to be a crop scientist, so he refuses to retire! He believes we need to act urgently to enhance crop yields globally and is delighted with the enthusiastic support from both industry and academia for the YEN initiative.
Daniel Kindred
Crop Scientist, Anglo American Crop Nutrients
Daniel Kindred has been a crop researcher with ADAS for 18 years. He is a co-founder of the YEN and led development of the Agronomics approach to on-farm Line Trials and the Farm-PEP Performance Enhancement Platform. He is passionate about farm-centric knowledge generation and in 2022 launched a new knowledge exchange platform at www.farmpep.net. In January 2023 Daniel joined Anglo American Crop Nutrients as Crop Scientist, where he plans to continue using Action Research approaches to help reimagine sustainable crop nutrition.
Tim Isaac
Associate Partner, Saffron Walden
Tim achieved a first-class degree in Agricultural Business Management at Wye College before starting his career as a farm consultant. He subsequently gained a Diploma in Rural Surveying and qualified as an Agricultural Valuer.
He went on to become the East Region Surveyor for the CLA, advising and representing members on all aspects of land and farm business management, before joining the AHDB as their Regional Manager. Tim pioneered the Monitor Farm programme in East Anglia and took on responsibility for managing the national arable team.
He was then appointed Director of Knowledge Exchange with responsibility for the network of Strategic Farms, Monitor Farms, discussion groups and technical events in all sectors across the UK and was awarded Fellowship of the Institute of Agricultural Management.
Tim has chaired a number of farming organisations and events, sits on various industry committees and recently completed his term as President of Essex Agricultural Valuers’ Association. He lives on a small farm with a large family and keeps fit by setting himself physical challenges and trying to keep up with his children’s various sporting activities.
Ron Granger
Arable Technical Manager, Limagrain
With 25 years of experience in wheat breeding, Ron is now responsible for the organisation and management of all of Limagrain UK’s agronomy trials - engaging with growers, agronomists and other bodies involved in the supply chain, from research through to end-use. Ron also provides a vital link in the work between breeders, official trials, and third-party trials.
Tim Lamyman
Director of Lamyman Worlaby Farms
I have learnt over the years to try pushing boundaries, adopt and adapt new ideas, after trials that improve the productivity and efficiency of the farm. Currently diversifying into the self-catering luxury holiday cottage market.
Everything we have achieved in the YEN in the last three years is down to our dedicated hard working team and the collaboration of Bionature, Frontier, BASF and GFP.
YEN Gold Award for highest grain yield in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021
YEN Gold Award for highest winter barley yield 2020 and 2021 YEN Gold Award for highest oilseed rape yield in 2018 and 2020.
Nick Anderson
Head of Crop Production Technology, Velcourt
Nick worked as an agronomist in East Anglia for a number of years before taking a role as crop consultant to Black Earth Farming, a 200,000 ha farming business in Russia in 2014. Nick worked with Black Earth Farming until it’s sale in 2017, during which time he focussed on optimising cultivations, nitrogen use and crop protection.
In 2017 Nick joined Velcourt to focus upon it’s international consultancy business, but since 2020 Nick’s primary responsibility has been for Velcourt’s crop production strategy across 56,000 ha of arable crops in the UK.
Phillip Dolbear
Senior Knowledge Exchange Manager, AHDB, Cereals and Oilseeds
Philip started his career with ADAS as Business Management Consultant, then spent 20 years with HSBC as Agriculture Banking Manager. He joined AHDB in 2013 establishing the regional KE programme including the Strategic and Monitor Farm network. He has specialised in farm business management including benchmarking with AHDB’s Farmbench tool. He is Regional KE Manager for the South West along with national responsibilities.
Robin Bolton
Senior Crops Development Adviser, College of Agriculture Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE)
Robin has been with CAFRE since 2003 and is currently Senior Crops Development Adviser. He grew up on a farm which he still runs part-time and studied agriculture at Queens University in Belfast gaining a Bagr Hons degree. He commenced work with Dalgety in 1994 as a trainee agronomist gaining Basis and Facts qualifications in 1996. Robin is currently involved in managing a team of three advisers, delivering knowledge transfer programmes to combinable crop and potato farmers across N.Ireland mainly through Rural Development funded programmes including Business Development Groups and Technology Demonstration Farms. Robin has also been on the organising committee of an annual arable conference held in N.Ireland since its inception 2012 and is currently the N.I representative on the RB209 Arable Technical Working Group.
Prof. Julie Ingram
Professor of Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture, the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI), University of Gloucestershire
Julie’s research at CCRI focuses on the social dimensions of innovation for sustainable agriculture. Her research interests are concerned with understanding learning, co-innovation, adaptation, attitudes and motivations across the agri-food system, with reference to: digital farming, crop and soil management, biomass crops, net zero, agroecology and agri-environmental management. She has led and worked on numerous projects for Defra, AHDB, Natural England, Innovate UK and BEIS examining farmer experimentation, innovation, behaviours and adoption, and on several EU funded projects looking at effective advisory systems, communication and knowledge with respect to sustainable soil management (SmartSOIL, RECARE, SoilCare and MINAGRIS) and agriculture in general (VALERIE and AGRIDEMO).
David Fuller-Shapcott
Managing Director, JN Fuller-Shapcott & Co. Sweethope Farm, Kelso.
David has been running the family farm in the Scottish Borders for the last 24 years. Having left Shuttleworth College with an HND in 1987, he travelled throughout both New Zealand and Australia before returning home late in 1988.
He has been involved in YEN from the start and was a member of the steering committee for YEN YYT. He is also an international conference speaker.
Sweethope Farm is a mostly arable farm located on the Northern edge of the Tweed river valley, growing cereals and oilseed rape. Soils are mostly brown forest gley (imperfectly permeable), very high in magnesium and extremely sticky when wet!
David Howard
Head of Integrated Crop Management for H.L. Hutchinson Ltd
David Howard is the Head of Integrated Crop Management for H.L.Hutchinson Ltd, where he brings over 14 years of experience in technical roles within the business. With a background in agronomy and a passion for combining technology, science and agronomy, David is dedicated to increasing agricultural efficiency and productivity. Throughout his career, David has gained a wealth of experience working closely with farmers , suppliers, academia and other members of the agricultural community to develop and implement innovative and sustainable crop management strategies. He is well- versed in the latest farming techniques and technologies and is constantly looking for ways to improve yields and increase farm resilience.
James Mayes
Farm Manager, Sentry Ltd
James Mayes is a Farm Manager for the Sentry Ltd, directly managing Bentfield Bury Farms in Essex, a predominately heavy land farm producing a range of combinable crops. After graduating from Writtle University College in 2001, James worked on a large East Anglian Estate before joining Sentry in 2004. Aside from his day-to-day role he is responsible for overseeing the development of Sentry’s Agronomic Policy across the company’s 20,000 hectares of farming land. This work encompasses soil health, farming systems, IPM, sustainability of inputs and margins. James is BASIS and FACTS qualified and is a regular contributor to initiatives such as the Annual YEN Competitions, where Sentry have several entries annually.
Sajjad Awan
NRM
Sajjad has spent his career working in the agricultural sector. After gaining his doctorate at the University of Warwick, where he led several important crop nutrition-focused projects, he became AHDB’s Crop Nutrition Research and Knowledge Transfer Manager. He played a major role in the development of AHDB’s Nutrient Management Guide (RB209), which helps guide all crop nutrition including fertiliser, manure, and slurry recommendations in the industry. Sajjad is now working as Soil & Crop Nutrition Agronomist with NRM where he’s using his expertise in fertilisers, crop nutrient management, and agronomy to provide customers with more insightful data and guidance for optimal farm management and better decision-making.
Jonathan Telfer
Yara UK Analytical Services (Lancrop Laboratories) Development Manager
Jon graduated as an archaeologist from Bradford University in 1993 but after several years of digging in the soil looking for treasures he found a new way to keep his hands dirty by joining crop nutrition specialists Phosyn, subsequently acquired by Yara UK, as a soil analysis technician.
Having learned every possible procedure in the lab, Jon spent 8 years as the Laboratory Manager leading the modernisation of the analytical facilities; transforming the lab from one processing a hundred samples per day to its present incarnation handling thousands of samples from all over the world very day. Over the last few years he has taken on a Business Development role, acting as a technical and commercial intermediary between the lab and its growing global customer base. More recently, Jon has overseen the introduction of various laboratory based soil health tests to satisfy the growing demand for more holistic soil analysis covering not only the chemical but also the physical and biological aspects of soil health.
Dave King
Head of Technical, Syngenta UK, Eire and Nordics
David has been involved in the Crop Protection Industry since 1989 working with both DuPont and currently with Syngenta as Head of Technical for the UK, Ireland and Nordics. He leads a Technical Team of 11 people who are responsible for bringing new technologies to help farmers and agronomists grow their crops in a world with increasing political, economic and environmental challenges.
Hannah Rigby
Acting Farming Science Programme Manager (Crops & Horticulture and Agri-Climate
In my current role (2020-present) I work within Defra's Farming Science team developing farming scientific R&D for policy making within the Agri-Food Chain Directorate. I currently oversee the Agri-Climate and Crops and Horticulture portfolio and was previously leading on farming systems and nutrient management scientific evidence. Prior to joining Defra I have over 15 years postgraduate research experience in environmental and agricultural science, combined with consultancy experience in the water and waste industry, primarily focussing on the recycling of organic waste to agricultural land including fertiliser replacement value and contaminant issues.
David Passmore
Passmore Brothers Farm
David runs the family farm partnership in South Oxfordshire in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It s a mixed farm on mostly shallow grade 3 soils over chalk growing winter wheat, spring barley, oilseed rape and peas in rotation with grass leys utilized by the farm's pedigree Limousin suckler herd and ewe flock. Nearly all combinable crops are grown for seed. David studied agriculture at the University of Reading and was YEN's innovator of the year in 2021.
Jennie Watson
Development Manager, Hutchinsons
From a farming background in Devon, I chose to study Applied Biology at Cardiff University. I spent 15 years in R&D working on the development of close to market crop protection products, both hands on and project managing field trials, at two global agchem companies. I joined Hutchinsons two years ago, my focus is now more holistic, to provide solutions to support agronomists and growers to be more productive and profitable. Hutchinsons have been actively involved with YEN right from its beginnings 10 years ago, with many growers and agronomists benefiting from the benchmarking and detailed reports produced.
Adrian Joynt
Farm Manager, Apley Farms
Adrian has been the Farm Manager at Apley Farms in Shropshire since January 2011, farming 1350ha, of which 750ha are combinable crops, 118ha of land let for salad and potatoes with remainder grassland. The farm was the Bridgnorth AHDB Monitor Farm 2016-18. He hosts trials for various companies, Harper Adams and the AICC, as well as undertaking tramline trials to evaluate new products before committing to their wider use within the business. He has been involved with both Cereal and Oilseed Rape YEN since 2016.
Dr Peter J Nelson
Operations Director, The Glenmorangie Company Ltd
Peter is the Operations Director of the Glenmorangie Company who produce malt whisky at their Distilleries in Tain, Rosshire and on the island of Islay. Malt whisky is made from three ingredients, water, yeast and malted spring barley. The majority of barley used by the Company originates from Scotland. As part of his role he is responsible for the Company’s sustainability strategy which includes targeting carbon neutrality by 2040. Malted barley accounts for 16% of the Company’s carbon footprint. Peter is on the Board of The Scotch Whisky Research Institute and Scottish Quality Crops.
Mark Tucker
Marketing and Agronomy Manager, Yara Europe
Following achieving a degree in Agricultural Botany at Reading University in 1989, Mark worked as a commercial agronomist in the agricultural supply industry, advising farmers on both plant protection and crop nutrition for 10 years. Following this he spent two years as an independent agronomist for Aubourn Farming in Norfolk. In 2002 Mark joined Yara UK Ltd as their Company Agronomist, directing the agronomic policies, R & D, and interacting with the marketing function. In 2011 he completed The Frank Arden Nuffield Scholarship titled ‘Life after Manufactured Fertilizer – Nitrogen’. In 2012 he became the Chief Agronomist for Yara BU North and East Europe which has given him experience with other crops, including Soybean, and precision farming developments in agricultural environments from Russia, Ukraine, The Baltics, Finland and the Nordic region. In September 2015 he returned to Yara UK and is currently the Marketing and Agronomy Manager, Yara UK & Ireland.
Joe Brennan
Technical Manager , UK Flour Millers
Joe Brennan is the Technical Manager at UK Flour Millers, where he covers food safety, wheat assurance, wheat breeding and milling industry research. Prior to joining UK Flour Millers, he obtained a degree in natural sciences and worked in biogas research.