Beanstalk Global

In our very successful interview series “20 minutes with inspirational people from the International fresh food sectors”, we look to catch up with the industry powerhouse that is Richard Diplock!

Richard is a highly experienced Director with a proven track record of working both on the retail side and on the supplier side with experience at dealing with all the major supermarkets at all levels. He has extensive experience gained on the procurement of wide range of produce from both Europe and the world , with particular emphasis on salads and vegetables.

He has recently led the rebranding of the Eric Wall business to that of The Green House Sussex Ltd allowing them to continue to be a key UK grower of the highest quality tomatoes.

A new President in the States. A new UK-Mexico trade deal. Food labelling concerns. And of course, all of the ongoing Covid implications. We look to take a deep dive into the America territory areas on a fresh produce perspective with our resident expert Steven Maxwell to gain an understanding as to what he is seeing on the ground.

Steven is a journalist and PR professional with years of experience covering the international fresh produce sector and the food industry in general. Fluent in Spanish, Steven is based in Mexico and benefits from excellent connections in the fresh produce sector and related media at an international level. His articles can currently be found in the US-based Produce Blueprints Magazine, part of the Produce Blue Book organisation.

“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 400 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 our current strange times, 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 third Broadcast for the group on Tuesday 2nd of February 2021 at 17:30hrs GMT we are delighted to be joined by guest speaker Hilary Lees to discuss Mental Fitness: How to build your resilience to thrive in challenging times.

Hilary Lees is a Mental Fitness Expert, Executive and Career Coach, Public Speaker, and Trainer who formerly spent twenty years working as an Occupational Therapist in a variety of NHS mental health services.

Through her business, The Resilience Consultancy, she helps business leaders build their mental fitness so they can respond positively to changing demands and challenges in order to enhance their performance; improve relationships as well as improve their wellbeing.

We will cover: What mental fitness is and how it relates to stress and resilience, an overview of the key factors that improve our performance and wellbeing, and three key actions you can take to build your mental fitness and resilience ‘muscles’.

“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 400 members. Christine is known to many as the first Grocery Code Adjudicator and head of the Co-op’s farming business, she is now Chair of MDS, a graduate recruitment and training business, amongst other roles.

In our current strange times, 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.

On our second Broadcast for the Group, Christine gives a group update before Max MacGillivray – Editor in Chief of Beanstalk, handed over the Broadcast subject of “Speaking in Public with Confidence” to the hugely impressive Sharon Kennett who is a key branding, marketing and communications expert.

Sharon has both agency and client-side experience and a reputation for delivering creative, practical solutions for businesses. She has a very impressive career to date including being the Marketing Director for the Frontier Agricultural Group and was behind the creation of the Frontier “brand”.

Their mission is to change the status quo and leverage the talent of Women in Produce to close the industry’s gender divide by inspiring, connecting and empowering women around the world. And their mission matters more than ever.

Today, women account for 80% of purchasing decisions, but only 20% of the voices guiding decisions in the boardroom. What’s more, is that by 2030 we’ll need the equivalent of two planets to feed a growing world population of 10 billion people – half of them female.

Our industry is being called upon to feed the world more humanely, sustainably and efficiently – and more female leadership is a critical part of the answer.

Beanstalk Global has partnered up with Global Women Fresh to create a unique monthly Broadcast interview series. This to further promote the great work they do, to gain them more members ongoing and additional corporate sponsorship as well as to assist them to make a long-term difference in the Global Fresh Produce sectors.

Next in our series, we meet up with their newest Board Member, Jacqui Green to hear what she is hoping she and the Group can achieve for 2021 onwards.

Jacqui has worked for key Fresh Sector businesses from Commercial Director to CEO level with proven results. Over the last decade, she has led teams to deliver double digit growth, redefined business models and shaped sustainable cultures. She has a growing Non-Executive Director portfolio and is also a qualified transformational coach and mentor. As a member of several trade boards and committees, she has spoken passionately about her views on policy, future consumers, leadership and sustainability. She is very excited to assist Global Women Fresh and their goal to create a real positive difference in the international fresh food sectors.

The Produce Marketing Association is a key International trade organization 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.

On our first joint Broadcast with the PMA in South Africa, we look to talk to some of the countries key Wholesale experts to gain a real understanding as to how this vital sector area “ticks” and how it makes a significant difference to the country, even more so in our strange times.

We went live in late January 2021 and spoke to key fresh sector experts including: Jaco Oosthuizen, Francois Knowles and Dr Justy Range.

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 the third in the series of monthly Broadcasts for Healthy and Sustainable Food.

In our January Broadcast, we are majoring on how we can leverage finance to develop viable innovation to support healthy and sustainable produce in the UK. For this highly topical subject especially around the Brexit machinations, we want to discuss with Group’s founders and key industry experts how we can connect the innovators to the people with the problems and what the agenda needs to look like to make sure that finance flows to the innovation. And as part of that we want to discuss what “toolkits” are available to facilitate project delivery.

Included in the Broadcast as well as the three founders are our key experts:

Simon Pearson, Rob Ward and Peter Cowley

Everyone knows Dan! Always one to watch in respect of his fast progression in the sector, he has been with the G’s Group for over 20 years and latterly as Managing Director for their UK operation. In 2017 he moved to the G’s Love Beets business in the United States to lead the brand from the US as it entered a new stage of growth following recent investments in facilities and US production capacity.

In our very successful interview series “20 minutes with inspirational people from the International fresh food sectors”, we catch up with Dan to hear his views on the differences of fresh produce Stateside and how he and his team have created a highly successful and innovate fresh produce brand with a difference in the states.

It is a fascinating conversation as Dan gives us his view of the differences of fresh produce production and marketing in the States compared to the UK.

Agri-TechE is bringing together farmers and growers with scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs to create a global innovation hub in agri-tech. They are a business focused membership organisation, supporting the growth of a world-leading network of innovative farmers, producers, scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs who share a vision of increasing the productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture.

Together they aim to help turn challenges into business opportunities and facilitate mutually beneficial collaboration.

We catch up with Belinda Clarke – Director at Agri-TechE to hear what they have planned for early 2021 that will be of interest to you. If you are keen to be updated and to change business practices in the positive face of new Ag-tech coming in at a frightening pace, you need to listen in!

Included in the conversation, Belinda highlight a key event they are running on Tues 19th Jan at 2pm titled as “Agri-Tech Explore: Keeping It Clean with Agri-Tech Innovation”.

Preventing and removing sources of infection and contamination has been front of everyone’s mind recently. Yet this has been top of the agenda in the agri-food supply chain for years, and recent innovations have brought it into sharp focus as we are all more mindful of managing harmful microbes. New innovations are emerging, harnessing different approaches, novel solutions and even different states of matter to help manage potential contamination. This is your opportunity to find out more about some possible new solutions to managing bacterial burdens, virus threats and fungal challenges. https://www.agri-tech-e.co.uk/event/keeping-it-clean-with-agri-tech-innovation/ (CLICK HERE) to register for that event in advance with Agri-TechE.

To view Agri-TechE and to join them, please visit their website – http://www.agri-tech-e.co.uk/ (www.agri-tech-e.co.uk)

In our very successful interview series “20 minutes with inspirational people from the International fresh food sectors”, we look to catch up with the industry leader that is James Lipscombe.

James is the CEO of The Chesterford Group of Companies who operate the largest chain of fish and chip shops and restaurants in the UK and employ in excess of 600 people.

The brands the Chesterford Group currently operates are fishnchickn, Bankers and Churchill’s. The Group was named as one of the 1000 companies to inspire Britain last year by the London Stock Exchange due to its fast growth and was praised for its dynamic leadership.

James is a young entrepreneur with a proven track record of opening and buying businesses and increasing both the turnover and profitability and creating businesses with family cultures where people can thrive. He is a proponent of the triple bottom line, People, Profit, Planet.

We hear about his Groups fascinating transformation during the intensive 2020 and what may hopefully be a brighter 2021. This is a story you need to hear.