Panel Chair – Prof. Tim Morris

Professor Tim Morris has extensive experience across veterinary medicine, commerce, professional and voluntary activities, coupled with a longstanding interest and involvement with native breeds of livestock, Tim also keeps Southdown sheep.

Tim is a non-executive member on Defra’s Animal Health and Welfare Board for England and has been a Trustee and Chair of several charities over the years, as well as a Director of several companies.

Tim is a Trustee of RBST, and will be chairing the panel on “The Farm of 2040”

Panel Chair – David McKay

David is Head of Policy for Scotland at the Soil Association, leading on the research, development and advocacy of the charity’s policy positions on food, farming and land use north of the border. He also sits on the secretariat of the Scottish Organic Stakeholders Group and the Scottish Environment LINK Food and Farming group. David is in the final year of an MSc in Organic Farming at SRUC and is an organically certified vegetable grower based in north-east Scotland.

David will be chairing the panel on “Soil – The Basis of Everything”

Conference Chair – Claire Saunders

Claire Saunders, a native from Northumberland, has had a diverse career within the agricultural industry.
Claire worked in London at Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising at the start of her career and then as Head of Marketing at J Barbour & Sons for seven years.

Following stints heading up the brand at Hunter Boot and Le Chameau she joined The Prince’s Countryside Fund in February 2015 as its Executive Director where she launched The Farm Resilience Programme and The Village Survival Guide.. Stepping down from her post at The Prince’s Countryside Fund in 2020, she became an Assistant Private Secretary to HRH The Prince of Wales which concluded in January this year following the King’s Accession to the throne.

Claire has settled in Bushmills in Northern Ireland and is grazing Belted Galloway cattle and Poll Dorsets on the North Coast. She is a Trustee of Rural Support Northern Ireland as well as The Rare Breeds Survival Trust, where she chairs the conservation and research committee.