Meet the NFU South team

23 December 2024

Montage of pictures of farmers and NFU staff

Meet the NFU South team working on behalf of our members in Berks, Bucks and Oxon (BBO), Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Somerset and Wiltshire. You can contact us on 02476 939404 or email [email protected].

Jacks Weaver

Regional Policy Manager (South)

Jacks joined the NFU South team in May 2024 as the regional policy manager.

She helps drive the NFU’s policy work forward on behalf of members’ businesses, leading campaigning, policy, lobbying and external engagement strategy in the region, as well as supporting and advising members and colleagues on key policy matters.

Jacks previously worked in rural surveying and farm business management.

She lives on a family farm in South Gloucestershire, and has a passion for agriculture, and rural businesses.

Lydia Dahlin

Regional Network Manager (South)

Lydia, who was previously Somerset county adviser, took on the network manager role in May 2024.

She will work with the NFU South team of county advisers and group secretaries to lead NFU membership growth and engagement across the region.

Hattie Severinsen-George

Environment and Land Use Adviser

Hattie is working on a range of environmental matters on behalf of members across the region, including water quality, nature, agri-environment schemes and flooding.

Hattie also is the secretary for the new South Uplands Group, supporting uplands farmers in Cornwall, Devon, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Somerset.

She has a master’s degree in Environmental Health, and previously worked within local authorities and environmental protection.

Hattie grew up on a mixed farm outside of Bristol and has always had interest in the environment and food.

Isobel Budden

Environment and Land Use Adviser

Working alongside Hattie, Izzy is tackling key issues across the region including water, agri-environment schemes, nature, infrastructure and planning support.

She joined the NFU from Promar International where she worked as a Sustainability Consultant with a focus on the dairy sector.

Izzy has a particular interest in sustainable agriculture and soil health, and holds a BASIS certificate in soil and water management.

She has always been involved in farming, helping out in the summers with corn carting on the family farm in Hampshire.

Izzy has an MSc from UCL in Environment, Politics and Society, focused on agri-environment policy, and a BSc from Exeter University in Geography with Biology with a focus on land management through agri-environment schemes.

David George

Membership Communication and Engagement Adviser

David takes the lead on member communications across the NFU South region. His role includes editing the regional pages of the British Farmer & Grower magazine, as well as helping to develop and deliver a coordinated member communications and engagement plan, which supports recruitment and retention of members.

A former journalist, he worked on regional daily newspaper the Western Morning News and spent nine years as a reporter and producer at ITV Westcountry, before moving into public relations.

David joined the NFU in 2011 as assistant regional public relations officer, before becoming regional public relations officer and then taking on the membership communications role.

Charlotte Penketh-King

Media Adviser (South)

Charlotte is the media adviser for the NFU South region.

Email Charlotte at: [email protected] 

Call Charlotte on: 07778 002617

Her role is to ensure members in the region continue to have a strong voice in the media.

After studying at the University of the West of England, she worked as a journalist for almost a decade, writing for a huge variety of publications.

Before joining the NFU, Charlotte was an editor for local online news publications across the South West.

Nathan Boyd

Berks, Bucks and Oxon (BB&O) County Adviser

Before joining the NFU, Nathan was an agent for the Conservative Party, looking after elections, members, and finance across the majority of the Oxfordshire constituencies. 

Alongside this, he was the agent for the Thames Valley Police and Crime commissioner, working on the political side of campaigns and policy.

Nathan’s agricultural career began on local farms in the Vale of White Horse, when he also attended Oxford Brookes studying politics and international relations, before moving into agricultural engineering.

He has also been a district councillor and leader of the opposition on the Vale of White Horse district council.

Ben Gallant

Cornwall County Adviser

Before joining the NFU in July 2024, Ben worked for environmental charity the Westcountry Rivers Trust, supporting farmers and growers across the South West to deliver environmentally beneficial outcomes on their farms.

Fiona Rew

Devon County Adviser

Fiona joined the team in August 2023 and works on behalf of members in Devon. She is also secretary to the South dairy board.

Before working for the NFU, Fiona was an officer in the British Army Educational and Training Services. Fiona lives on a beef and arable farm in North Devon.

Sophie Herd

Devon Assistant County Adviser

Sophie works alongside Fi on behalf of Devon members.

Gemma Harvey

Dorset County Adviser

Gemma works on behalf of NFU members across Dorset.

Chris Farr

Gloucestershire County Adviser

Chris is an experienced agricultural, land based and rural policy adviser, and joins the NFU from the CLA, where he was a rural adviser for Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.

He started his career in the British Army, working his way up to Captain, and has also worked as regional director and operations manager at British Eventing.

Chris is looking forward to channelling his passion for farming into this new role and is keen to meet members across the county.

Tom Peters

Hampshire and Isle of Wight county adviser

Tom grew up on his family’s mixed farm on the Titsey Estate, on the Surrey/Kent border.

He is a Harper Adams graduate and before joining the NFU worked for Cogent, the cattle breeding/AI company, for nearly 12 years as an international sales manager, mainly covering Europe and Canada.

Emily Martin

Somerset County Adviser

Emily joined the NFU in 2019 and worked as an adviser in the NFU’s TB team for four years. She was seconded into the poultry team in January 2023 before joining the South team as the Somerset county adviser in May 2023.

Emily grew up in Buckinghamshire, finding her love for farming through lambing and calving on friend’s farms.

She graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2018 with a BSc (Hons) in Animal Science and then moved to the South West for her role in the NFU.

Katie Davies

Wiltshire County Adviser

Katie joined the regional team in July 2022 as county adviser for Wiltshire. She grew up on an arable farm on the Pembrokeshire coast in West Wales, where they also run an agronomy business.

She previously worked as an agricultural adviser in a specialist firm covering Wales and the border counties.

Katie was an active member of Llysyfran YFC and at all levels of the organisation, finishing as Wales YFC Chair in 2021 and is still involved as a club leader. She completed the Worshipful Company of Farmers; Challenge of Rural Leadership Course in 2022.

Lindsay Ashby

Senior Regional Administrator

Lindsay joined the NFU in June 2022, starting within the South East region, moving into her current position with the South region in 2023.

Previously, Lindsay managed an equine veterinary laboratory.

Her role includes overseeing, and ensuring, a coordinated administration service to regional staff, as well as the NFU's boards and committees.

Molly Sharples

Regional Administrator

Molly first joined the South West NFU team in November 2022 before moving across to support the new South region. She helps coordinate events and shows, as well as supporting the regional team and wider membership.

Prior to graduating from Hartpury University in 2022 with a BSc in Equestrian Sports Science, Molly worked with injured and retired racehorses, rehabilitating and pre-training them to return to racing or retraining them for secondary ridden careers.

She has also worked across several other equestrian sectors, ranging from elite level eventing to stud and reproductive work.

Grace Stokes

Regional administrator

Before joining the NFU, Grace worked on a local dairy farm and for a rural events company in Devon, where she was responsible for all aspects of events management.

Grace joined the NFU in November 2024, after graduating from Oxford Brookes University with a BSc in Criminology.

She grew up in a rural village on the outskirts of Taunton, where she still lives, and in her spare time she is a keen netball player and a member of her local young farmers club.

Grace is looking forward to being a part of the NFU team and working towards a better future for British farming.

This page was first published on 14 May 2024. It was updated on 23 December 2024.


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