Summer Gathering
Speaker Profiles

Sue Pritchard

Chief Executive

Food, Farming and Countryside Commission​

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Sue is Chief Executive at the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, governor at the Royal Agriculture University (RAU), trustee of CoFarm, and an organic farmer at Llananant Farm in Monmouthshire. 

Her session is going to explore with participants the conditions they need to make farming an attractive and viable prospect for young people, thinking policy, resources, markets and more. ​​​

Claire Mackenzie

Documentary Producer 
Six Inches of Soil

Claire produced the original film “From the Ground Up”, for Carbon Neutral Cambridge. She has a background in TV production and charity fundraising & event organising.  She has set up environmental groups both in London and Cambs.  With a passion for holistic health care she has been a trained therapist for 15 years, and a trustee at Cambridge Cancer Help Centre.​​

Navaratnam Partheeban

Regional Veterinary Head of Farm

IVC Evidensia

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Partheeban is Regional Veterinary Head of Farm for IVC Evidensia. He co-founded the British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society and completed a Nuffield Farming Scholarship on Encouraging and Supporting Black and People of Colour in Agriculture.

Russ Carrington

Coach, mentor, facilitator  

Russ is a coach, mentor and facilitator, working with farmers and their families, agricultural organisations and landscape scale initiatives to help them through periods of transition towards regenerative practices.

He has worked with farmers and land managers across the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe. He previously managed Pasture for Life, working to support farmers adopting better grazing and livestock management through certifying and promoting 100% pasture-fed meat and milk. He also has first-hand experience of setting up and managing livestock farming enterprises having established the new regenerative farm on the Knepp Estate adjacent to its area of rewilding.

Dan Smith

Farm manager, consultant

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Dan is a farm manager and consultant running a commercial, net-zero livestock farm in Monmouthshire. He has extensive knowledge of agroecological practices, social agriculture, and group facilitation. He is currently studying how regenerative farming and policy changes can inspire the next generation through a Nuffield Scholarship. ​​​​

Jonty Brunyee

Co-founder & Director

Emergent Generation

Agroecological, organic, pasture-fed farmer at Conygree Farm and Cotswold Market Garden; regenerative agriculture adviser, facilitator and mentor; co-founder and Director of Emergent Generation.​

Lu Barton

Director

Owl Conservation Project

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"Hi my name is Lu I was born and raised in the countryside in the North West, being a country girl conservation has always been very important to me.  I have always had a great love of birds, particularly Birds of Prey and especially Owls.  The door to me working with birds was opened by, my now great friend, Sadie Shepherd and her amazing business Feathers and Fur (now based at Moss End Garden Centre).  I had an amazing time learning from and working with Sadie, lots of fun.  I then decided to specialise in owls and in particular British Owls with the help of my happy feathered band.  My work as a group leader with WBCS Barn Owl group and my survey work with organisations such as the BTO together with my knowledge of Owls led me to start the British Owl Project which has been such a success that it was decided to become a Community Interest Company and we are now the Owl Conservation Project CIC and have a wonderful dedicated team helping to move us forward."​​​

Lucy Harding

Communications Manager

Real Farming Trust, Oxford Real Farming Conference

Lucy Harding is Communications Manager for the Real Farming Trust, where she supports the Oxford Real Farming Conference and coordinates the Agroecology Comms Network. Lucy thrives on building community within the global food justice movement and her work focuses on advocating for a transition to agroecology through peer-to-peer knowledge sharing.​​​​​​​

Becky Grove

Co-founder & Director

Emergent Generation

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After working in film production and commercial advertising for 15 years, Becky took an MA in Social Entrepreneurship in 2019 focusing on innovating careers education for land-based skills. As a result, Becky created 'Grounders', a programme for young people that combined seasonal jobs with food and farming education. This led her to FarmED, where she co-founded Emergent Generation in 2022. She is a Director of the CIC. 

Tristan Leslie

Co-founder

Emergent Generation

Tristan works as a Ranger for the Earth Trust helping manage their nature reserve and farm. He is also a data collector for FAI farms, and a trainer for Soilmentor.  He became interested in regenerative agriculture during lockdown, and has been part of Emergent Generation ever since. Tristan is a young member of the steering group and helps lead on events. 

Stephanie Lykourgou

Food sustainability strategist, climate educator and resilience coach.  ​

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Stephanie is a food sustainability consultant , climate educator and resilience facilitator supporting individuals, communities and organisations to respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by the climate crisis through cultivating greater strategic, practical and emotional resilience. Though this looks different depending on whether she is working with a food business on their ESG strategy, a community on their climate resilience or a climate-distressed individual seeking support navigating life amidst a crisis, it nearly always involves getting resourced enough to face the reality of the situation, then strengthening their relationships with nature, community and self.

Stephanie draws on her own experience of climate-induced existential crisis, over a decade working in the food industry, global travels living with indigenous and intentional communities researching resilience practices and her training as a Climate Reality Leader, Integrative Coach and Hypnosis & Somatics Practitioner to support her purpose of supporting people to grow their resilience, align their values with their actions, and live joyfully.

Angus D. Birditt

Author, Food Writer, Photographer, Researcher, Founder of Our Isles

Angus is a food writer, photographer and researcher, alongside his role as content creator for various food and farming organisations. He also works as a freelance curator, events host and editor of the award-winning Our Isles. He is currently Fortnum & Mason’s Cheese Expert.

Angus is the author of the multi-award nominated A Portrait of British Cheese (Quadrille Books), longlisted in the esteemed André Simon Awards, nominated as Best Debut Food Book in the Fortnum & Mason’s 'Food & Drink Awards', and listed in the Financial Times, The Independent and BBC Food Programme's Books of the Year.

Jade Bashford

Programme Coordinator, Coach, Owner & Director of Stroud Brewery

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Jade is a Programme Coordinator at the Real Farming Trust and has worked in a developmental role in this sector for thirty years, enabling people, enterprises and communities to step up and make a food system that is socially just and rich for biodiversity.

Her work includes enterprise support, coaching, introducing new models, research, innovation and programme management.

She is also owner and director of the organic Stroud Brewery and a (very) small holder.