Charlotte Evans, AHDB head of engagement (pork), explains the different roles at AHDB.
At AHDB, we work on your behalf, investing the levy you pay to benefit the industry. Some of our work is obvious. Some not so.
Rest assured, we have a dedicated team looking after the needs of the whole of the pork sector and I thought it worth highlighting who they are and wha t they do.
If you came to the AHDB stand at this year’s British Pig & Poultry Fair, you might already have seen a few of us, including some new faces. In March, our new CEO, Graham Wilkinson, took up office; a month later Glen Nimmo was appointed Pork Sector Council chairman.
Glen has already written to levy payers after his first sector council meeting and intends to keep doing this to keep everyone in the loop.
It’s worth acknowledging all those on the sector council, too. They are Charlotte Duggleby, Mark Westgarth, Hugh Crabtree, Robin Thompson, Chris Aldersley, Mike Wijnberg, William de Klein, Tim Bradshaw, Jodie Bolland and Rupinder Ashworth. They’re all keen to hear from you, whatever the issue.
Graham has implemented a new structure that increases focus on the sectors. As part of this, he has appointed Angela Christison as sector director for pork. Angela has always maintained a strong interest in the sector, but there’s now an even greater focus. Levy payers told us marketing, exports and reputation, including education, animal welfare and environmental work, were most important to them.
Next up is where I come in – the engagement team; the people you probably deal with the most. We are a tight-knit group that continues to evolve to ensure all activities align with the industry needs.
Together with Zanita Markham and Tony Bayles, we put as much emphasis on training stockpeople and embracing smaller-scale producers as we do on projects such as the Environmental Baselining Pilot.
I’d like to thank former colleagues who have helped put us in such a strong position, in particular Pat Loten and Andrew Palmer.
Other areas include schools, retailers, policymakers and wider stakeholder groups, which often require us to lean on AHDB colleagues who have the expertise.
This means that some of the faces you see might be working on pig projects full-time, whereas others work across different sectors. We communicate the great progress and investment that’s being made in the sector, particularly with regards to welfare and the environment.
I could fill an entire issue with the details of what the AHDB team does for the pork sector, but, hopefully you now have a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out at charlotte.evans@ahdb.org.uk.