Chairman: Andrew Burgess- East Anglia
Currently a Trustee of the Soil Association & have served full terms on the NFU Horticulture Board, LEAF board, AHDB & British Carrot Growers. Just retired from playing Rugby for Peterborough, now the President!, Still ski & climb mountains, love all outdoor pursuits.
My greatest hero's is Winston Churchill; he never knew when he was beaten! , my favourite poem & code for life "If" by Rudyard Kipling.
Vice chairman: Mark Wycherley- West Midlands
My family have farmed here in Shropshire for 6 generations. We have been organic since 1997, farming light land, this can be a challenge especially in this year. We are currently running 60 cross reds on a robot with all milk for OMSCo,s Antibiotic free premium pool. We do potatoes and have done carrots and onions in the recent past. I have enjoyed the last 23 years as I like the feeling of working with nature not trying to beat it.
Nick Adams- East Midlands
Nick Adams is a beef and sheep farmer near Brailsford in Derbyshire – his farm includes an Angus herd and a flock of Polled Dorset ewes.
Haydn Evans- Wales
Haydn Evans farms with his wife and son in Pembrokeshire. They run a herd of some 100 milking cows consisting of traditional breeds, principally British Friesian, Ayrshire and Dairy Shorthorn. Milk is supplied to the local dairy (Rachel's) in Aberystwyth.
In addition to representing NFU Cymru on the Organic Forum he also chairs the Soil Association Farmers and Growers board, and is a farmer member of the Agricultural Land Tribunal in Wales.
Adam Westaway- South West
Adam is a 3rd generation farmer dairy farmer from Devon who has been farming organically for over 20 years. The business farms 370 acres of heavy clay with 170 Friesian cows on a grazing based system milking with robots. The milk is produced using no antibiotics for OMSCo’s US premium pool for export as Milk fat, powder or cheeses.
Adam has been the local NFU Group chair as well as having been on the SW Dairy board. Adam has recent been a board member of OMSCO as well as a chairman of the Membership committee and the Devon membership rep.
John Pitts- South East
John is a 4th generation tenant farmer in West Sussex. A total of 1500 acres supports 250 dairy cows and 120 followers and a variety of arable crops including milling wheat, malting barley and maize for forage and grain. The dairy is c.96% self-sufficient in feed. Vegetables are grown in partnership with a larger specialist producer
Three composts sites are operated in Sussex and Hampshire processing c.85000 tons of green waste. The resulting composts are used on farm and form part of a range of products sold under the Earth Cycle brand earthcycle.co.uk. Other diversifications include a 5MW solar farm, a commercial business park and a rather challenging project to grow and develop a market for organic lillies!
John is on the membership committee of OMSCO, is Chairman (and the only organic member!) of CCC ltd (a cooperative providing independent agronomy advice on c.50 000 acres across the south of England), holds a BSc in Agricultural Economics and was awarded FW’s sustainable farmer of the Year in 2015.
John Alpe- North West
John Alpe farms New Laund Farm in Whitewell, Clitheroe which is between 500 and 1,500 feet above sea level and on entirely Less Favoured Area (LFA) land in Lancashire.
Life on the farm is always busy with 1,000 ewes, 40 milking cows and 100 young cattle to look after.
All of the land at New Laund Farm is in environmental management and embraces heather regeneration, ground nesting bird habitat management, woodland regeneration, species rich grassland and John also has wild flower hay meadows.
Farming close to the Lancashire town of Blackburn, John is always keen to build relationships with the local Asian community and organises bespoke farm visits for the various faith groups – on occasion providing segregated visits for male and female only groups. And with three and a half kilometres of dedicated concessionary disabled access paths around the farm, any disabled person can use his metal tracks with all-terrain mobility scooters 365 days of the year.
Robin Asquith- North East
Robin is from a soft fruit production background, and after a varied early career settled on farm management. Robin has been the farm manager for Camphill Village Trust based in Botton Village, a 800 acre upland mixed organic farm since 2016. The farms primary aim is to support adults with disability and mental health concerns on farm. The farm runs a small dairy herd, beef herd and sheep as well as a small horticultural cropping area.
Robin was a Farmer Weekly Award finalist in 2015 and 2017 and was a 2016 Nuffield Scholar. Robin is keen to promote the upland farming areas, and the benefits good management can bring to the environment, food and people.
Regional Deputies:
- Callum Weir (East Anglia)
- Tom Rigby (North West)