Professor Barsby, a plant geneticist well-known for her scientific achievements and significant experience in the agricultural crop sector, is a former CEO of NIAB.

Professor Barsby has led and managed multifaceted, product driven, research and development programmes in North America and UK/mainland Europe. She has a first degree in agricultural botany from the University of Wales at Bangor, and a PhD from the University of Nottingham.

Professor Barsby is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Society and was awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours List for services to Agricultural Sciences and Biotechnology.

She was awarded an Honorary Professorship in Agricultural Botany by the University of Cambridge in 2021.

Sarah Bell is a farmer and independent strategic adviser for the agricultural supply chain. With a passion for building sustainable businesses on the three Ps – people and planet as well as profit – Sarah is a dynamic communicator and analytical strategist who leads businesses through organisational as well as digital transformation.

An OFC Emerging Leader and alumni of the Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership and the Windsor Women in Leadership Programme, Sarah has spoken at the Financial Times Global Food Systems Summit and is an articulate voice on digital leadership in agriculture and bringing diversity to the board table.

Sarah is a non-executive director of the AHDB board, as well as sitting on NFU Council and the Agrimetrics Advisory boards.

Dr Susannah Bolton is Vice Principal for Enterprise and Knowledge Exchange at SRUC. She has 30 years’ experience working in knowledge exchange and research translation for agriculture. Until December 2021, she was Research Director for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), responsible for a programme of applied research on behalf of farmers and processors across the arable, horticulture, ruminant and pork sectors of the UK. The work is designed to deliver technological improvements in performance in Crop health and IPM, Animal Health and Welfare, and Environment, underpinned by technical decision support services, genetics evaluations and data capture tools. Prior to that, Susannah was Knowledge Exchange Director and oversaw the development of the AHDB Farm Excellence Platform, a farmer network of over 70 farm businesses, delivering knowledge exchange, peer to peer learning and benchmarking. She has a PhD in Tropical Agroforestry and spent 3 years working with the research provider EMBRAPA in North East Brazil, following which she was responsible for international relations and external communications at Rothamsted Research.

Hugh is well known and respected in the UK pig industry and has more than 40 years of commercial experience in supplying technology to farmers. He joined the Pork Council in May 2022.   Having gained a first-class honours degree at Reading University, Hugh continued with postgraduate research into thermal performance in pig buildings. He was a founder member of Farmex Ltd. in 1980, and the company has gone on to become the market leader in ventilation systems for pig production in the UK. Three-time winner of the New Equipment Award at the British Pig & Poultry Fair, Farmex is now at the forefront of real-time production monitoring in the UK and the USA.   Hugh has led three UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-funded collaborative R&D projects and is active in the field of precision livestock farming and the application of information and communication technology (ICT) in agriculture. He is now the sole owner of Farmex Ltd. and a co-owner/director of Dicam Technology Ltd.   Additionally, Hugh is a Fellow of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers and was recently awarded a Lifetime Fellowship of the National Pig Association (NPA).

In 2025 Hugh was awarded an MBE for services to the pig industry.

Gareth Davies is Chair of iSDA Africa, a pan-African pioneer of digital soil agronomy services. Until 2021 he was Trustee and Member of the Board for the Royal Agricultural Society of England, a charity awarded the Queen's Charter in 1840 to be the independent voice for science and best practice in agriculture. Previously at Syngenta in Switzerland, Gareth led the Global Food Security unit exploring novel business and investment models to serve smallholder farmers across the world. He has also worked in top-tier strategy consulting across a wide range of industries, particularly global agribusiness. His NGO experience includes working in West Africa with the microfinance platforms Kiva and Global Brigades.

Gareth holds a First Class MSc in Chemistry from the University of Oxford, and a scholarship MBA from the London Business School.

Dr Helen Ferrier is Director of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange at LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming), a charity supporting the global transition towards more sustainable farming and food.

She is a non-executive director of Niab and chairs the Agri-TechE stakeholder group. Before joining LEAF, Helen was Chief Adviser for Science and Innovation at the National Farmers' Union, where she worked for over 20 years leading its policy and advocacy work on science and research, biotechnology, food safety and data. Helen has an academic background in environmental science and epidemiology and was a research scientist at Imperial College London.

David Hutchinson is chairman and co-owner of Hutchinsons, a market leader in agronomy services, supplies, and farm digital systems. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford (Agricultural and Forest Sciences), a Chartered Accountant, former Chairman of the Agricultural Industries Confederation and a Director of Oxbury Bank plc.

Charlotte is Science and Innovation Adviser at the National Farmers' Union (NFU), where she leads on science, innovation, agri-tech and data policy issues affecting British agriculture. Her work focuses on the implementation of the Precision Breeding Act, monitoring developments across the research and innovation landscape, and assessing opportunities and barriers to the adoption of new technologies on farm. She also leads on farm data governance and follows developments in innovation funding programmes, including ADOPT, to help identify opportunities for farmers and growers. 

Prior to her current role, Charlotte worked in the NFU's Environment Team and Food Business Unit, developing expertise in environmental policy, sustainable agriculture and food supply chains. 

Charlotte holds an MSc in Agroecology from Harper Adams University and a BSc in Physical Geography from Aberystwyth University.