Beanstalk Global

A scheme to bring significant change to the employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in the fresh food (horticulture) sector will take place this summer, which will be led by the ambitions of young people aged 18-28 from Kent and Medway.

Working with young people creating aspiration, reimaging rural Kent and Medway and the future of fresh food in the Garden of England and leading change in the fresh food sector this summer.

The Rural Youth Ideas Festival is a pilot ideas festival which will take place 30 August-1 September at Bore Place and organisers hope it will bring purpose, ambition and a reimagining to a sector for which Brexit, Covid and the National Food Strategy are all catalysts for major change.

Backed by a number of fresh produce businesses, Kent County Council, Medway Council, District Councils, DWP/Job Centre Plus, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, The Rural Youth Project, charities and educators, this ideas festival will open the gateway to both full time and seasonal roles as well as entrepreneurial opportunities.

EFCIS is a multi-award winning, leading FCA registered and independent specialist Trade Credit Insurance Broker founded by Andy Moylan, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management. They provide a range of services and consultancy advice to assist multinationals and SMEs so they can trade on open account credit terms with increased payment certainty.

Beanstalk Global are very excited to announce that EFCIS are launching Fruitful! the magazine for the fresh and frozen produce sector. To talk through their publication and the desire to assist the Fresh Produce sectors even further with their range of services, we catch up with Andy.

Andy Moylan, CEO and Founder of EFCIS. He is one of the UK’s most influential and respected credit insurance practitioners. He has played an active role in establishing best practice for this sector and his expertise is frequently sought by global brands. Andy began his career at one of the UK’s largest credit insurers. After working at a senior level for several broking houses he established EFCIS in 2000. His aim was to build a team that would offer a service to clients that was “far and above the service being offered by the traditional credit insurance broker.” As the sole UK founding member of the ICBA Andy is proud that “As a team we have the capability to place global credit insurance programmes with a local service with 70 offices in 38 countries."

“Women in Food and Farming” is a group of professional women in food, agriculture and the land-based industries at all stages of their careers, who get together to discuss business issues, support each other via mentorship and advice, and help generate networks of contacts that might be useful to themselves and their businesses.

Founded in 2011 by Christine Tacon CBE, the group started back in 2011 with just five women and has now grown to over 500 members. Christine is known to many as the first Grocery Code Adjudicator and head of the Co-op’s farming business, she has just been appointed Chair of Assured Food Standards which operates the Red Tractor Assurance scheme amongst other roles.

In the August broadcast we welcome guest speaker Nina Patil, Director of Fresh Express India. Nina is a multi-talented and multi-faceted personality, She takes keen interest in farming and lives by the belief quality of a product is shaped by its growing practices. Nina ensures certifications like GLOBALGAP and BSCI are implemented in spirit and action on an ongoing basis, every step of the way.

Fresh Express export and promote Indian Fresh Produce, specifically Table Grapes and Natural Sun Dried Raisins, grown on our own and partner farms with 700+ small farmers. They have been marketing fresh produce from India across the Globe successfully for the last 27 years.

Nina is passionate about Natural farming where plants thrive in their natural eco system with the help of locally grown resources and minimal use of chemical fertilisers. Fresh Express use natural methods to retain and improve soil health, control pests, and increase yields, thus making Farming sustainable for the smallest of farmers. She strongly advocates Woman Empowerment, 95% of the work force are ladies and proudly financially independent. Nina has been involved in the fields of certification, recruitment, training, organizational development and performance enhancement since the last 20+ years. Fresh Express ensures certifications are not just a list of compliances but are lived and followed in spirit and action.

The hugely well thought of and recognised British Growers Association is a grower owned, grower led, not for profit umbrella group. They comprise a range of organisations operating in the key UK horticulture industry and fresh produce sectors. Their  membership includes Crop Associations, Producer Organisations, marketing groups and professional membership groups.  The organisation is run by a Board of Directors drawn from all sectors of the fresh produce industry with a great team running the day to day operations and communications. Their mission is very straight forward - to support their growers to do what they do best. 

Jack Ward is the Group CEO and he has a prestigious background in the sectors having previously held roles such as Regional Director for the NFU, Director for the Oxford Farming Conference, Chairman & Trustee for Nuffield Farming Scholarship, CEO of the City & Guilds Land Based Services before becoming CEO of British Growers in 2014.

Joining Max and Jack will be Barbara Bray MBE and Coral Clark, Horticultural Crop Association Executive at British Growers.

Also joining us will be Rikesh Panchmatia  – Client Manager for Kantar - to give us an current overview of the UK Fresh Produce Sector.

Eunice Mutua is an Entrepreneur and an Agribusiness Market Place Influencer who is passionate about creating and supporting sustainable food systems in Africa which promote sustainable production and related aspects, market access and nutrition. She is also very passionate about creating employment, knowledge sharing and mentorship of youth and women, and is a Sustainable Agribusiness Ambassador.

Eunice has over 15 years working experience in various industries that include the security industry, the advisory consulting industry, PwC (PriceWaterHouseCoopers) in global business management, business and project risk management, finance, strategy and operations advisory. She has over 8 years’ experience in the horticultural industry in local trade and international trade/export of fresh and dry produce that has seen her work closely with Farmers, AgriSMEs and other ecosystem players in various Counties in Kenya, Africa and Europe.

Eunice is the Managing Director at Select Fresh Produce Kenya, and Chair of ASAAN - Africa Sustainable Agribusiness Agroprocessing Network.

Beatriz is driven by a passion for creating a delicious and resilient food future for all. She works with companies, organizations, and investors to push forward breakthrough solutions. She has travelled around the globe meeting “food heroes”: farmers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, transforming the way we eat. She has built food education programs to raise awareness in young generations.

At KM ZERO Food Innovation Hub, she oversees the strategy of the organization and manages the manages the relations with partners and global opinion leaders of the Squad. Through Ftalks Food Summit, the organization manages to bring together these voices to inspire change and create impactful synergies. The mission is to assist startups, corporations, institutions and people operating in the food system, to become futureproof through investment, partnerships, strategy, and the Fooduristic multimedia platform.

She is a known industry leader with frequent publications and speaking engagements.

Areas of expertise: business development, world-class industry network, partnership strategies. Speaker.

Specialties: food systems transformation, innovation, alternative protein, future of retail, digitalization, resilient production, consumer trends.

Three key industry professionals have come together to create a unique Group called, Healthy and Sustainable Food. This is to constantly examine what would be the results if people from different sectors were to collaborate on solutions to produce healthy, sustainable food ongoing. The Founders are:

• Barbara Bray MBE – Director – ALO Solutions
• Mark Driscoll – Director – Tasting the Future
• Jacqui Green – Director Viridis Associates

Their aim is to improve nutritional quality of food and availability for all socio-economic groups in the UK. They will do this by bringing individuals from different sectors together for projects on sustainable nutrition.

Beanstalk Global is proud to be hosting a series of monthly Broadcasts for Healthy and Sustainable Food.

In our July Broadcast we discuss The Hierachy of Agricultural Waste in a Circular Economy. Joining Mark & Amy will be:

Jenny Costa – Founder & CEO, Rubies in the Rubble. Rubies in the Rubble is an award-winning, sustainable food brand known for making great tasting condiments with a conscience. Jenny started making her first batches of relishes from surplus in 2011 and since then has been working with farmers and producers across the country to put surplus fruit and vegetables to good use.

Martin Bowman, Senior Policy & Campaigns Manager – Feedback Global. Martin currently works in policy and campaigns for a variety of Feedback projects focused on food waste, meat, anaerobic digestion and sustainable animal feed. He was previously Feedback’s Pig Idea Policy Officer and Stakeholder Coordinator from 2018-19, and the Coordinator for Feedback’s Gleaning Network between 2011-2017. In 2016 he gave a TEDx talk on gleaning.

The Carbon Trust are an expert partner for businesses, governments and organisations around the world – supporting them in realising ambitious plans for a sustainable, low carbon future.  They believe that environmental sustainability and economic prosperity can go hand-in-hand as we address the climate crisis.

Their mission is to accelerate the delivery of a sustainable, low carbon economy by helping businesses, governments and organisations across the globe to reduce carbon emissions and increase resource efficiency.

We will be joined by Sajeev Mohankumar, who is the Agricultural Footprinting Expert for The Carbon Trust to discuss how farming and the fresh produce sector businesses would benefit from working with them.

“Women in Food and Farming” is a group of professional women in food, agriculture and the land-based industries at all stages of their careers, who get together to discuss business issues, support each other via mentorship and advice, and help generate networks of contacts that might be useful to themselves and their businesses.

Founded in 2011 by Christine Tacon CBE, the group started back in 2011 with just five women and has now grown to over 500 members. Christine is known to many as the first Grocery Code Adjudicator and head of the Co-op’s farming business, she has just been appointed Chair of Assured Food Standards which operates the Red Tractor Assurance scheme amongst other roles.

Beanstalk is very proud to offer our extensive platforms to allow Women in Food and Farming to continue their conversation and debate and to encourage new members ongoing to join them, be that on a virtual Broadcast basis.

In our July Broadcast, we are delighted to have Dr Tina Barsby OBE join us - where we will be discussing the Importance of Science in Our Sector.

Tina, a plant geneticist well-known for her scientific achievements and significant experience in the agricultural crop sector, is the CEO of NIAB. She 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. She spent a postdoctoral period at Kansas State University, and worked at Allelix Inc, Ontario, Canada for several years before returning to the UK in 1989. Tina then joined Nickerson UK (now part of the LG Group) where she remained until joining NIAB in 2006.

The Produce Marketing Association is a key International trade organisation representing companies from every segment of the global fresh produce and floral supply chain. The PMA helps members grow by providing connections that expand business opportunities and increase sales and consumption. Their mission is to connect, inform and deliver industry solutions to enhance their members’ prosperity.

Each month, we will be focusing on a major area of South African fresh produce and discussing that all with the country’s key industry experts so we can learn and appreciate fantastic South African Fresh Produce. This month it's Citrus!

On the panel we will be speaking to several leading experts on the South African Citrus Industry including:

Dr Vaughan Hattingh - CEO of Citrus Research International (CRI)

Duo Landman – Landman Group

Rowan Vickery, Commercial Manager - FruitOne

Jon Roberts - GM, Citrus Growers Association Cultivar Company

Also present broadcast sponsors:

Joe Shaw Roberts - Kantar

Georgina Knock - KisanHub