Meet the NFU South combinable crops board

22 May 2025

Two combine harvesters working in a field

Your NFU South combinable crops board meets regularly to discuss issues facing the sector. Find out about meeting dates, the work of the board and contacting your local rep.

Board secretaries: Gemma Harvey and Nathan Boyd.

The board is chaired by Matt Culley, with Peter Venn as vice chair.

All members are welcome to attend board meetings. If you would like to attend, or to find out more about the work of the board, contact Gemma or Nathan, or get in touch with the regional office on 02476 939404 or [email protected].

Watch the recent webinar looking at farm assurance reform in the crops sector听听

To speak to your local board rep, contact the regional office and we鈥檒l put you in touch.

Forthcoming meeting dates are: 1 July, 10 September, 29 October.

Download board papers, including agendas and minutes, by using the links at the bottom of the page.

The board鈥檚 priorities include:

Helping to shape a buoyant, dynamic, world leading, profitable and sustainable combinable crops sector for all

Ensuring that the South regional crops board is supporting and inputting into the national crops board priorities, with a focus on ensuring that the board is adequately representing grassroots members

Specific areas of focus:

鈥� Plant health

鈥� Fairness in the supply chain

鈥� EMS and SFI development

鈥� Farm assurance review

Matt Culley

NFU Combinable Crops Board member, regional chair (South)

Matt farms in partnership with his brother in Hampshire, currently managing 650 hectares of owned and contract farmed chalk loam, clay cap and gravel soils, supporting wheat, barley and oilseed rape over the four course rotation.

Wheat is grown for the feed market, with a small area grown for seed. Winter barley is feed and spring barley is for malting. The farming partnership also runs a grain storage business with drying facilities and a soft fruit enterprise.

Matt served as NFU Combinable Crops Board chair from 2020-2024.

Peter Venn

Somerset

Peter farms 650 acres in the Vale of Taunton using a conventional system with targeted cultivations. His winter crops include OSR (oil), barley (feed), wheat (milling/feed), and beans (feed).

He also offers contract drilling for grass and SFI mixes. Previously in ELS, CSS, and Wessex Water projects, he now participates in SFI23. Historically, his farm included dairy (Jerseys) and laying hens.

A FACTS-qualified professional, he is pursuing BASIS Crop Protection.

Peter studied agriculture at Aberystwyth University and completed CDP in 2021/22. Passionate about soil, data, and technology, he integrates innovation into his farming practices.

Fraser Bush

Wiltshire

Fraser farms 1,165 acres as a tenant of the Duke of Beaufort, using a no-till system where possible and cultivation for peas and maize. He grows feed wheat, spring barley, combinable peas, OSR, and forage maize, alongside a sheep enterprise.

The peas are sold for racing pigeons, and Fraser produces forage maize for a local dairy farmer, malting barley, feed wheat, OSR and small hay bales for horses.

Fraser also sells carbon sequestration credits. Diversifications include letting some units to other businesses, horse jump building, fencing contracting, and managing horse event sites.

He participates in Higher Tier CS, multiple SFI agreements, and sits on the local farm cluster group's steering committee.

James Cox

Gloucestershire

James farms 470 acres in Gloucestershire, growing winter wheat, winter and spring barley, winter oilseed rape, winter and spring oats.

His main outputs include barley for malting, milling oats, and feed wheat. The farm is involved in ELS/HLS and SFI schemes. Diversification includes Hazlecote Farm Cottages which offer holiday lets.

Charles Day

Gloucestershire

Charles farms 1,750 acres using a conventional regenerative approach with direct drilling and cover crops.

He grows winter milling and feed wheat, spring wheat, linseed, OSR, salad onions, and vining peas. Some wheat is sold directly to a local flour mill.

Diversifications across the farm include rental property, a cider and perry orchard (planted in 2017), and carbon projects.

Charles participates in the SFI Pilot and serves as NFU Gloucestershire county chair and Council Delegate.

A fourth-generation farmer, he was part of the Cereals Development Program in 2016 and runs the farm in partnership with his family.

Robyn Gibbons

Hampshire

Robyn farms with her father and uncle near Basingstoke. They farm 1,200 acres with circa 85% owned and the rest rented.

Crops include feed wheat, malting barley, oats, oilseed rape, combining peas, and beans, using a conventional system.

An additional 370 acres are managed under a share-farm agreement, where they handle the arable crops whilst the landowner runs sheep and cattle.

The farm is in the SFI expanded offer, having been in mid-tier stewardship. Robyn sits on the steering committee for the Candover Valley Farmers cluster group and is FACTS and BASIS qualified.

Jon Perry

Cornwall

Jon farms 1,360 owned acres in North Cornwall using a min-till and conventional rotation approach, incorporating legume fallows and winter cover crops for sheep grazing.

He grows winter wheat, winter barley, spring barley, oats, maize, and temporary and permanent grass, with some land rented for vegetable production.

Crops supply local feed mills, with oats for food. Diversifications include barn conversions for offices, a 500kW wind turbine and solar panels. The farm operates a beef fattening unit seeing 800 head of cattle a year.

Jon is a past county chair and council member, and a Kernow Grain director, as well as a local parish councillor. He participates in ELS/HLS, SFI, and catchment-sensitive initiatives.

Rob Addicott (Somerset)

Ed Allen (BB&O)

James Bowditch (Dorset)

Oliver Colston (BB&O)

Matt Cotton (Devon)

Mel Curnick (Wiltshire)

Mike Hambly (Cornwall)

Clemency Ives (Isle of Wight)

Nick Philp (BB&O)

Edward Verney (Devon)

Mike Watkins (Dorset)

Board secretaries:

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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.听

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

Nathan鈥檚 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.

Gemma Harvey

Dorset County Adviser

Gemma works on behalf of NFU members across Dorset.

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