Meet the speakers
28 January 2026
Great Yorkshire Events Centre
The Yorkshire Farming Conference is a fantastic opportunity to be inspired by key insights from experienced speakers from across farming and its allied industries.
We are delighted to be welcoming industry leaders, sector specialists and influential guests from across Yorkshire and beyond for a packed programme of talks and workshops.
Check back for updates to this page as we reveal more of our line up during the countdown to our inaugural event.
Our Speakers
Keynote Speaker, James Rebanks
Farmer and bestselling author
James is a farmer and writer based in the Lake District, where his family has lived and worked for more than 600 years. An advocate and practitioner of farming with nature, James is a graduate of Oxford University and has worked as an expert advisor to UNESCO on sustainable tourism. He has authored bestselling books, including The Shepherd’s Life, English Pastoral and The Place of Tides.
Richard Barker
Farmer, Lingy Moor Farming Ltd
Richard runs the family’s 600-acre mixed farm near Richmond, North Yorkshire where they finish 20 Aberdeen Angus cattle per week to go to Dovecote Park. They run 550 animals at any time and their goal is to be self-sufficient in growing all their own feed for the cattle. Richard is also the founder of a furniture business.
Orlando Bridgeman
Solicitor, Wrigleys Solicitors LLP
Orlando specialises in private client matters with a focus on succession planning, and he is a Chartered Tax Advisor. Orlando advises farming and rural businesses on family trust and partnership issues, as well as tax-efficient strategies. His expertise includes agricultural and business property relief from inheritance tax, alongside other key tax reliefs.
Tom Carlisle
Farmer, D&J Carlisle
Tom is a sheep and beef farmer in the Yorkshire Dales near Skipton. His 420-acre hill farm consists of 650 Texel-X and Mule sheep, and 35 suckler Blue-X cows. Tom also runs a successful glamping pod farm diversification, Coxons farm glamping pods, and is very proactive on social media sharing his farm life to over 50,000 followers across Instagram and Facebook.
Session Chair – Rachel Coates
Farmer and Show Director of the Great Yorkshire Show
Rachel, a dairy farmer from Shipley, West Yorkshire is a member of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society Council and was appointed as Show Director of GYS in 2024. She farms with her family on the edge of Baildon Moor and the urban fringe, and has also worked in advertising, retail, education. Passionate about British food, Rachel is also a member of the Society’s Women In Farming Network and volunteers at the Society’s Countryside Days for schoolchildren.
Session Chair – Heather Copley
Queen Bee, Farmer Copleys
Heather is the co-founder and driving force behind Farmer Copleys, the award-winning farm shop and café near Pontefract. Returning to the family farm with her husband Rob, she helped transform a traditional arable business into one of the UK’s leading farm retail destinations. Since opening in 2003, Heather has shaped the business’s reputation for quality, innovation, and exceptional customer experience.
Sam Dilcock
Director, Yorfuel Ltd
Sam is a farm worker at G Headley near Selby and Director at Yorfuel Ltd, as well as a member of the Future Farmers of Yorkshire Management Board. Askham Bryan College alumni Sam’s farming experience includes growing quality vegetables for local retailers and wholesalers, and he has previous taken his passion for agriculture on to the airwaves, as a presenter and reporter for BBC Radio York.
Thomas Dowdy
A&E Operations Paramedic, NHS and Training Director, F3A
As a paramedic based in Yorkshire, Thomas frequently attends farming-related incidents – the sort of incidents he is all to aware of with a background in working on mixed farms in North Lincolnshire. As a training director with F3A (Farm First Aid), Thomas is well-positioned to share life-saving skills as part of efforts to reduce fatalities in farming by equipping those who are first on scene to make the difference.
Tom Ducker
Farmer, Coppice House Farm
Tom took over his family farm on the edge of Sheffield in 2014 building the suckler herd from 20 old Belted Galloway cows to 50 Limousin-Blue X cows, calving each year with calves selling as stores at 10-14 months. Tom is in the process of moving further North as he seeks to build a more sustainable and profitable enterprise. Through membership of Future Farmers of Yorkshire, he says he has benefited from invaluable help through mentors, advice and networking.
Session Chair – David Exwood
Deputy President, National Farmers Union
David farms south of Horsham in West Sussex with his wife and two sons over 1,200 tenanted hectares in the heart of the Sussex Weald, where their business consists of arable, dairy, beef, Sussex suckler herd and sheep enterprises, as well as a farm shop. David has long been involved with the NFU and was elected to the position of Deputy President in February 2024 after serving two years as Vice President.
Ashleigh Fenwick
Office Manager, Darlington Farmers Auction Mart
Having always being in and around the agricultural show scene Ashleigh has gone from being the one judged to the one judging. With the aid of what she learnt in Young Farmers and the Aberdeen Angus Youth Development she is enjoying being invited to judge and loves being able to share her knowledge and reasons.
Stephen Frankland
Farmer and Joiner, Willen Tree Farm
A first generation farmer, Stephen also runs a joinery business to pay for his farming dream. On the farm, he runs 150 sheep and 5 pedigree Charolais, while he employs two staff as part of his joinery business. One day, he hopes to farm full time. Stephen says that taking part in the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Goodall Agri-Development Pathway has ‘opened many doors to help me progress my business and has really inspired me to try and help others where I can’.
Session Chair – Dr Dave George
Reader in Precision Agriculture, Newcastle University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences
Chair of the Farmer Scientist Network at the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, Dave works within Newcastle University’s School of Natural and Environmental Sciences and has specialist knowledge in the use of biopesticides and precision agriculture technology. Dave is passionate about driving forward future farming systems to benefit food production.
Megan Hall
Farm Administrator, Girl Friday’s F.A.R.M
After graduating with a degree in Accounting and Finance, Megan fell into a job on a dairy goat farm where she found her passion as a farm administrator. She completed the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Goodall Agri-Development Pathway in 2024, giving her the courage to set up her own farm administration business, Girl Fridays F.A.R.M. Now running her business full time, she helps agricultural businesses with all forms of bookkeeping and compliance paperwork.
Tamara Hall
Managing Director, Molescroft Farm
Tamara was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship in 2013, sponsored by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society. It was during this time that Tamara’s sister, Camilla Parsonage, became involved with the farm, culminating in the opening of Molescroft Farm Children’s Nursery. This diversification has since become a mainstay of the business, helping the arable farm in East Yorkshire to survive even in bad years.
Rachael Hirst
Sales Director, Sykes House Farm Ltd
Sykes House Farm is now in its third generation. Working alongside her brother, Rachael’s passion for the farming and meat industry started at an early age. From four-years-old she was helping her father with his 2,500 pigs as well as cattle. Rachael is passionate about supporting local farmers and supplying the best products to their clients, priding herself in her customer service and educating chefs on the best cuts for their menu with full traceability, championing British farming.
Trisha Horsley
Pig Farmer near York
Trisha hails from a five-generation family farm that specialises in rare breed pigs near York. An experienced stocksperson and a regular at the Great Yorkshire Show (GYS), Trisha has shown livestock throughout her life. Putting her vast experience to good use, Trisha is an interbreed judge and a member of the GYS Pig Committee.
Chris Humphreys
Tax Partner, BHP LLP
An experienced tax practitioner with more than 30 years experience of advising owner-managed entrepreneurial family businesses, including those in the agricultural sector. Chris has a reputation for explaining tax issues in a way that takes the jargon out of complex tax scenarios.
Anna Jones
Founder and Managing Director, Just Farmers
Anna is a rural affairs journalist, author, presenter, TV producer and farmer’s daughter from the Welsh Borders. She has worked on BBC One’s Countryfile, Channel 4’s Our Dream Farm with Matt Baker and is a familiar voice on Radio 4’s Farming Today and On Your Farm. She founded Just Farmers after her Nuffield Farming Scholarship to improve communication between the UK farming community and urban audiences.
Zulfi Karim DL
Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire
Proud Yorkshireman Zulfi is a entrepreneur and community leader in Bradford, and is the Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire. Zulfi is the Programme Director of NHS Well Bradford, a programme to improve health inequalities in the district, and the President of Council for Mosques, Bradford. Merging his passions for food and culture, Zulfi founded the World Curry Festival. He is also a founding Director of UNESCO City of Film Bradford.
Session Chair – Olivia Midgley
Editorial Director, Farmers Guardian
Olivia is a journalist and editor with 20 years’ experience of working in publishing. Currently editorial director of Farmers Guardian, she is spearheading the 181-year-old brand’s digital transformation and is responsible for setting the tone and vision of its market leading content. Olivia was named the British Society of Magazine Editors New Editor of the Year in 2024, is a director and deputy chair of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists and a mentor with the Creative Mentor Network.
Session Chair – Nigel Murray
Managing Director, Booths
Nigel has spent his career to date in the retail industry and is the Chief Executive Officer of Booths, a 178-year-old food and drink retailer and manufacturer. Nigel also supports a number of organisations focussed on creating a better food system and the role that can play in improving the health and wellness of communities.
Session Chair – Lynsey Pack
Head of Charitable Activities and Partnerships, YAS
Lynsey leads the delivery of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Charitable Activities, events and initiatives that support farmers and educate the next generation about farming, food and the countryside. She has spearheaded the Society’s Goodall Agri-Development Pathway, a fully-funded training programme to support the development of farming’s next generation and heads up the Society’s support of the Farm Retail Association and British Christmas Tree Growers Association.
Camilla Parsonage
Managing Director, Molescroft Farm Children’s Nursery
Camilla’s background is in competitive three-day eventing, but after having children she joined her sister, Tamara Hall, on the farm and they began running school visits. From this, the idea of creating a children’s nursery on the farm was born. They are now eight years into their nursery journey, each day welcoming 136 children and with an expansion planned. They believe the farm setting gives children a rich and nurturing upbringing.
Anna Pennell
Farmer, Nipna
Anna farms near Richmond where her family has built a strong reputation as one of the country’s leading breeders of Dales ponies. Alongside their successful pony stud, Anna runs pedigree flocks of Wensleydale, Clun Forest, and Lincoln Longwool sheep, as well as a large cross-bred flock with native breeding at its core. Anna has won championship titles across the country including at the Great Yorkshire Show with all three of her main breeds.
Guy Poskitt
Farmer, Mark H Poskitt Ltd
Guy is a established Yorkshire arable farmer specialising in growing carrots, parsnips and potatoes. Poskitts have won several farming awards, while Guy has held various regional and national roles within the National Farmers Union (NFU). Guy is currently the Northern Chairman of NFU Mutual’s Regional Advisory Board.
Graham Potter
Farmer, W Potter & Sons
Graham is a fourth-generation arable farmer and contractor and embraces technology wherever he can. He works with the environment growing oil seed rape, Winter wheat, Spring barley, vining peas and cover crops. The farm has been direct drilling for years with no ploughing and reducing reliance on inputs. Graham is a local leader in his area for sustainable landscapes, working closely with Yorkshire Water.
Mike Powley
Partner, Oak House Farm
Mike farms a 140ha mixed arable and beef family farm at Green Hammerton, near York, with 120 spring calving sucklers, AI’d home bred replacements with everything finished on farm using all home produced feed. The arable has been regen direct drilled for 10 years. Red clover/ryegrass, an 8-year rotation, cover crops and all the FYM used as soil biology feed has seen the soils transformed with yields rising and costs slashed.
Sue Pritchard
Chief Executive, Food, Farming and Countryside Commission
Sue leads the FFCC’s mission to bring people together to act on the climate, nature and health crises, through fairer and more sustainable food systems, and a just transition for rural communities and the countryside. She is a Trustee of CoFarm Foundation, an independent Governor at Royal Agricultural University, a Trustee of St George’s House Trust, Windsor, and a member of the government’s Net Zero Council.
David Rose
Elizabeth Creak Chair in Sustainable Agricultural Change, Harper Adams University
David directs the Centre for Social Science at Harper Adams University, and leads the Engaging for Change research group. A Rural Geographer interested in issues of agricultural extension and change in farming, David’s research focuses on how farmers are adapting to make sustainable agricultural transitions, including aspects of technology adoption, ethics, behaviour change, and farmer wellbeing.
James Severn
Director – Farm Business, GSC Grays
A farm business consultant since 1986, James moved to Yorkshire in 1993. He has clients across the North of England and his specialist areas include business reviews, restructuring and budgeting. An additional key area is the establishment and ongoing management of Contract Farming Agreements and joint venture in agriculture.
Session Opening – David Skaith
Mayor of York and North Yorkshire
Born in Harrogate and raising his family in York, David is a small business owner and keen cricketer. Elected as Mayor of York and North Yorkshire in 2024, he has prioritised building healthy and thriving communities in one of the first Combined Authority regions to bring together a large rural area with an urban centre. David says that rural and farming voices are at the heart of every decision he makes.
Lucia Slack
Mental health nurse, NHS
Lucia works as an NHS mental health nurse in rural Cumbria and lives on a farm where her husband Johnny is a first-generation dairy farmer in the Eden Valley. This gives her a unique perspective on the challenges faced by those in agriculture. In 2024, Lucia was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship, sponsored by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, to study ‘Addressing Suicide in Agriculture: Supporting and Preventing the Biggest Hidden Danger Today’.
Session Chair – Isabel Spurway
Engagement Lead, Charitable Activites, YAS
Isabel plays an integral role in coordinating the Yorkshire Farming Conference as part of her role within the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Charitable Activities team. Aside from the Conference, Isabel works to drive engagement in the Society’s charitable events and initiatives by building relationships with businesses, partners and sponsors.
Professor Jonathan Statham
Director and Chair, Bishopton Veterinary Group, and CEO, RAFT Solutions Ltd
Jonathan is a cattle vet, Chair of Bishopton Veterinary Group and Chief Executive of RAFT Solutions Ltd. A past-president of the British Cattle Veterinary Association, he sits on the Veterinary Products Committee, the steering group of the Ruminant Health and Welfare Group, and chairs the Innovate UK Agriculture Sector Group, the Defra Pathway Chairs Group, and the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England.
Andy Venables
CEO, Hillsgreen
Andy is the founder of Hillsgreen and Cultivate, helping rural businesses grow and leaders thrive. He also manages his family’s dairy farm in Cheshire, giving him a real-world perspective on rural life and business. As a cancer survivor, Andy shares an honest take on resilience, perspective, and finding strength when life knocks you where it hurts.
Duncan Winspear
Associate Director, Food & Farming, Savills
Duncan is from a farming background and has a degree in Agriculture from Newcastle University. Having joined Savills a decade ago, he delivers farm management and consultancy advice to landowners, institutions and farmers across the region, including overseeing in-hand farms and contract farming agreements. Duncan is also a member of the Future Farmers of Yorkshire Management Board.
Helen Wyman
CEO, TwoCan
Since her Nuffield Farming Scholarship, Helen has dedicated her career to ensuring everyone has access to high-quality mentoring relationships, not by luck, but by design. Through TwoCan, she is building a cross-sector network where people support one another, grow together and create space for others to achieve.
James Young
Vice President, Agriculture, McCain Foods (GB) Ltd
James joined McCain Foods in 2021 as Vice President, Agriculture for GB & Ireland. This involves the sourcing of over 700,000 tonnes of potatoes annually from trusted growers across the UK. The Agriculture function at McCain also includes seed operations based in Montrose, and the initial stages of potato processing in its plants. James is a graduate of the University of Newcastle with a degree in Agriculture, and lives near Beverley.
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