CUPGRA - Key Persons
Debbie Winstanley has a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Wales. She is a Governor of Harper Adams University and was awarded a Fellowship by the Royal Agricultural Society in 2022. She was a commercial farm agronomist in northwest England for 20 years before working on potato agronomy at Cambridge University Farm. Debbie has worked for both Co-op Retail and Sainsbury's in technical management for fresh produce and was the UK agronomist for PepsiCo. She sits on the steering group of the Allerton Project, a charity that champions biodiversity, and PRIF, the UK Government's Expert Committee for Pesticide Residues in Food.
Elizabeth has over 25 years applied soil and nutrient management research experience and has engaged with a wide range of research projects connected with the study of nutrient cycling in soils and with the environmental impact of farming systems. At the smallest scale she has applied isotope dilution techniques to investigate mineralisation, immobilisation and nitrification processes. Most recently she has been very active in developing farmer-focussed approaches to measurement of soil health and developing on-farm toolkits for improved soil management. She joined NIAB in 2017 as Head of the integrative interdisciplinary farming systems research team, including the potato department.
Job Titles:
- Head of Plant - Parasite / Pathogen Interactions Group at the Crop Science Centre
Sebastian is Head of Plant-Parasite/Pathogen Interactions Group at the Crop Science Centre in Cambridge, the inaugural CUPGRA Fellow and BBSRC David Phillips Fellow. The overarching theme of his research is to combine genomics and molecular biology to understand fundamental questions in host:parasite biology. His group primarily focus on plant-parasitic nematodes because they are a threat to food security in developed and developing countries, and underlying this threat is a wealth of fascinating biology that until very recently has been largely unexplorable.
Graeme is an independent potato agronomist and director of Provenance Potatoes.
James is a partner in EG Harrison & Co, a family farming/contract farming business running 1,700 ha in North Norfolk and a Director in the caravan site business, Woodland Holiday Park. The potato enterprise produces processing and seed potatoes, supplying Lamb Weston, Kettle Growers Group and Albert Bartlett. He also sits as an observer on the NIAB Board.
Business Manager at Produce Solutions James is a fourth generation "potato man" being brought up on the family farm in the West Midlands. He spent 12 years as a broad-acre agronomist before joining Greenvale as a Senior Potato Agronomist in 2001. James has subsequently had 20 years of potato supply chain experience across fresh retail and processing sectors and manages the "Produce Solutions" potato agronomy and trials business - part of the Greenvale and Produce Investments family of companies.
James is a farmer's son from Suffolk who studied agriculture at Wye College. After graduating he joined G's and then moved to MBM, gaining BASIS and FACTS, specialising in potato production and then moved onto Greenvale AP. He is now Managing Director and agronomist at East Suffolk Produce, a grower group based in East Suffolk and North Essex. The Group produces 65,000 t of ware potatoes and ca 5,000 t of seed.
Kate is the first point of contact for CUPGRA on administration and membership services, alongside being part of the NIAB Potatoes team at Cambridge.
Peter joined NIAB in 2022 and leads the development of the organisation's potato agronomy research and industry partnerships, technical services and consultancy activities, with a focus on the practical application of research outputs from across the organisation. This includes NIAB's potato knowledge exchange programme, including training and meetings/conferences, as well as in the delivery of demonstrations at events, trials sites and on-farm.
Graduating with a degree in French and Spanish, Sophie joined the MDS GraduateTrainee Scheme, working in the fresh produce industry. She then spent seven years working for Barfoots before returning to Norfolk to join B&C Farming. A steep learning curve (which continues) later, Sophie runs the side of the business focusing on potato production, storage and sales along with haulage.