AgriTech zone: Meet the speakers – Saturday 18 June

Sponsored by Agri-EPI Centre, our three-day AgriTech zone will provide information for young and older minds alike; from how to ‘shepherd’ robotic herds to how to stay cyber-safe in an increasingly digital world. Please click HERE to see the programme for Saturday 18 June.

Hear from our speakers including:

Adam Henson, farmer, author and Countryfile presenter

Adam Henson is perhaps the best-known farmer in the UK, presenting his own section on BBC’s Countryfile to millions of viewers each Sunday evening. But farming and conservation are Adam’s first passions and when the camera stops rolling, there is still plenty of work to be done.

Kaleb Cooper, Clarkson’s Farm

In 2016 Kaleb Cooper, founded Kaleb Cooper Contracting, offering a range of agricultural contracting solutions in Oxfordshire and the surrounding counties. Starting with a shed of chickens and fresh out of Moreton Morrell College, Kaleb recognised the need for a more flexible approach to farming. This was reflected in the diverse range of services and customer facing approach to their work.

More recently the 23-year-old became the unlikely star of Jeremy Clarkson’s fly on the wall documentary about his farm in the Cotswolds becoming immensely popular thanks to his down-to-Earth manner.

In conversation with Kaleb Cooper in the AgriTech Zone at the Three Counties show will be, as ever, honest, funny and uniquely Kaleb.

Andrew Easton, BBC Hereford and Worcester

Andrew has probably travelled the furthest out of all the BBC Hereford & Worcester team to be with you as he hails from down under – Christchurch, New Zealand in fact! He arrived in the UK in 1993 and has always had a passionate interest in radio. A foot was let through the door in the early 2000’s when Andrew started doing ‘all the other things that no-one else wanted to do’ at BBC Hereford and Worcester. Those at the BBC in Gloucester and Birmingham also heard he was a jack of all trades and took advantage of this for a while before Andrew landed a permanent job with BBC Hereford and Worcester as early presenter and helping hand on the breakfast show with his good friend Mike George. If you ever see Andrew in the pub (a common occurrence!) chat to him about travelling or Billy Joel – two of his favourite things!

James Bickerton, British Wool

Championing British wool and farmers who produce this amazing, natural fibre, promoting production and usage.

Fiona Galbraith, Founder of RuRALink

Fiona Galbraith was raised on an English vineyard. She ran away to join the Army and enjoyed a demanding career including several operational tours in the various global hotspots of the last 25 years. Opting to move into a follow-on career in her forties, she founded Ruralink to help improve career pathways into the land-based sector, including for military veterans and service-leavers.Working with partners in education, professional training and directly with employers, Ruralink redefines entry-level and transferable skills and experience to remove existing barriers to entering employment in the food and farming and conservation sectors. Ruralink Veteran offers pro bono career advice to veterans and service-leavers considering a follow-on career on the land. Ruralink Training applies the best of military leadership, planning and management know-how to specific, bespoke training for the sector. Ruralink delivers its services through a growing network of associates who are themselves making or have recently made a career change. Further information is available at Ruralink.org.uk. Fiona can be contacted directly at: [email protected]

Michelle Ohren, Head of Cyber and Innovation, The Cyber Resilience Centre, West Mercia Police

Michelle has been in policing since 1996, and within CID since 1999, this has given her a wealth of experience in policing all different crime types over the years. She is the Deputy Senior Investigating Officer for the UK’s largest human trafficking investigation, which began as new legislation was being introduced, and this crime type was an unknown area of business in policing and communities. Michelle worked closely with other organisations and charities to provide the necessary support to victims, and the investigation team while raising awareness of this crime type.

Michelle became one of the West Midlands Police modern slavery advisors at a Force level, assisting officers across geographical and often regional boundaries. This entailed developing relationships and working closely with many different policing departments both in and out of the Force area; as well as multiple outside organisations and NGO’s in partnership. This has given her a good basis to building long standing working relationships which she can bring to her role in the CRC.

Richard Yorke, Managing Director, CyNam

Richard is one of the founding Directors of Cyber Cheltenham (CyNam), a Community Interest Company focused on the development and growth of the Cyber ecosystem in the Cheltenham and Gloucestershire region.

Richard’s career in the Cyber and National Security industry spans over 15 years, most recently as a business leader at CACI Ltd following their 2019 acquisition of Deep3 Software, a software engineering company which Richard co-founded in 2014 and led as Director and CEO. Under Richard’s leadership, Deep3 grew successfully through the delivery of mission-critical data processing and analytics platforms for customers in the National Security, Cyber and Law Enforcement sectors. 

Prior to founding Deep3, Richard held positions at the Cabinet Office’s e-Government Unit delivering pan-government services such as the Government Gateway, after which he worked for Atos as a Programme Manager responsible for the delivery of capability for customers in the National Security sector.

As a Cheltenham resident, where he lives with his wife and two children, Richard’s passion lies in supporting the development and growth of the thriving cyber community in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire and the wider UK through collaboration, innovation and knowledge exchange, particularly where he can share his own experiences and learning with fellow entrepreneurs.

He is a member of the Golden Valley Cyber Leadership Board (CLB) and is Chair and Co-founder of the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3), a recently established national body representing UK based cyber clusters and focused on supporting their work to develop the sector.