Covering topics such as Farming Rules for Water, the Ukraine crisis and more, the panel consisting of NFU President Minette Batters, NFU Deputy President Tom Bradshaw and the NFU's Agri-food Policy Delivery Manager Jack Watts, this session provides you with an easy way to keep updated with the latest news in a challenging climate.
听
Meet the panel
Minette Batters
NFU President | 2018 – 2024
Diversification includes the conversion of a 17th century tithe barn into a wedding and corporate events venue, and horse liveries. Minette co-founded the campaigning initiatives 'Ladies in Beef' and the 'Great British Beef Week'.
Campaigning on behalf of NFU members about the importance of British food and farming has been a key driver for Minette throughout her time at the NFU. In 2020 she led one of the most successful petitions ever, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts 鈥� resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. She has also regularly engaged with different media genres including appearances on Desert Island Discs, Question Time, and Any Questions.
She has been an NFU member from grassroots through to County Chair; she served as Wiltshire鈥檚 Council delegate and also as Regional Board Chair for the South West. Minette has also been a member of NFU Governance Board and served as NFU Deputy President for four years from 2014 to 2018, before being elected as president in February 2018. Minette is also an ambassador of Farm Africa and was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 2021.
Officeholder responsibilities听
- Trade and standards
- EU and international relations
- Taxation and fiscal policy
- Science and research and development
- Food supply chain (fair dealing, Markets and Authorities, competition, regulation)
- Food service
- AHDB
- Levelling up
- Education
Tom Bradshaw
NFU President
The home farm is based around arable production but has also diversified into equestrian and renewables.
Tom has represented the NFU from Local Branch Chairman through to Chair of the National Combinable Crops Board.
Tom was elected to the position of NFU President in February 2024.
Responsibilities
- Animal health and welfare incl. bTB
- Trade and standards
- Climate, energy and net zero
- Food supply chain (fair dealing, mergers and acquisitions, competition, regulation)
- Animal ID and movements
- Assurance review
- Taxation and fiscal policy
- Immigration
Jack Watts
Chief Value Chain Analyst
Jack鈥檚 current role sees him supporting and leading strategic cross-cutting work streams, most recently the organisation鈥檚 collective response and asks in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.
Before joining the NFU, Jack spent 12 years at the AHDB and previously HGCA. Whilst at AHDB Jack led the organisations analysis of grain and oilseed markets on behalf of levy payers as well as delivering multi-sector work on how modern day agriculture can manage volatility.
Jack is from a farming background in the South West of England, studied Agriculture at the University of Nottingham after which worked on a New Zealand dairy farm.
Diane Mitchell
NFU chief environment adviser
Diane has led on the NFU鈥檚 policy work feeding into the Environment Act 2021 and more recently other areas such as nutrient neutrality and water quality.听 She also provides the secretariat to the NFU鈥檚 Environment Forum, which works with members, other NFU commodity boards, government, government agencies and other stakeholders to ensure farmers鈥� views on the environment are at the forefront of policy making.
Alongside her responsibilities at the NFU, Diane was the Vice-Chair of the Environment Working Group at COPA-COGECA, which is the trade body for farmers and agri-cooperatives at an EU level, for six years until 2020. 听
Before joining the NFU, Diane was a researcher at Cambridge University Farm and she has a BSc and PhD from the University of Aberdeen, both in soil science.