Executive Committee
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Guy Beaufoy
Director
After working as a consultant on agricultural and environmental policies in Europe, specialising in the Mediterranean region, Guy Beaufoy is now the Forum's Policy Manager. His interest in rural-environmental issues in this region began when living in northern Portugal in the 1980s, which was followed by an MSc in Rural Resources and Environmental Policy at Wye College (London University). Guy has worked for 15 years in Spain through the association IDRiSi, and manages a small farm in Extremadura producing organic olive oil and figs. This has brought him into direct contact with the local farming community, as well as experiencing the complexities of the CAP from the receiving end. He has been closely involved in the development of the High Nature Value farming concept since its inception in the early 1990s, and has worked on this issue in Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria and Rumania, as well as at the European level. Currently he represents the Forum on the CAP Advisory Groups for Olives and for Fruit and Vegetables.
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Brendan Dunford
Director
From a farming background in Co. Waterford, Brendan has spent the past 12 years working in the Burren region in western Ireland. In 2001 he completed his doctorate on the impact of farming on the heritage of the Burren, later published by Teagasc as 'Farming and the Burren'. Currently, he works as Manager of the EC funded BurrenLIFE Project ‘Farming for Conservation in the Burren’ based in Carron Co. Clare. He is co-founder of the Burrenbeo Trust which specializes in information and education provision, research and advocacy, for the Burren, and is a member of the board of the Heritage Council of Ireland, sitting on its wildlife and education committees.
web: www.burrenbeo.com
web: www.burrenlife.com
email: brendan@burrenlife.com -
Colin Hindmarch
Director
Dr Colin Hindmarch has a background in horticulture, environmental design, strategic planning and ecology, and aspirational research interests in grassland community ecology and the molecular phylogeny of cloud forest bromeliads.
He has been involved protecting historic landscapes (Hindmarch, 1997; Hindmarch et al, 2000), integrating major new development into the wider environment, repairing and reinvigorating urban fringe landscapes, restoring land damaged by mineral extraction and other industrial processes, and highlighting the importance of sustainable land management practices (Hindmarch & Pienkowski, 2000).
Current concerns include putting the value of ecosystem services at the core of economic planning (Hindmarch et al, 2006); developing policies that maintain ecological processes and enhance ‘connectivity’ (Hindmarch & Kirby, 2002) and safeguarding isolated habitats, including those of oceanic islands (Hindmarch, 2007). This has involved a long-standing, commitment to environmental impact assessment and the development and defence of environmental policy at local, national (UK) and European level through the corresponding institutions.
As part of this policy work, he has represented several non-government organizations on a number of European Commission committees, including: the Advisory Committee on Agriculture and the Environment; the Biodiversity Strategy Working Group that produced the EU Biodiversity Strategy, and; the ad hoc EU Biodiversity Expert Group. His work has also informed Council of Europe thinking on ecological connectivity (Hindmarch & Kirby, 2002) and championed the need for policy change in European agricultural policy (Hindmarch & Pienkowski, 2000).
His involvement in the development of the European Union Biodiversity Strategy, helped to include a reference to Europe’s Overseas Territories that now forms the basis of his push to secure a more effective relationship with European institutions through a sixth framework ERA-NET project, Net BIOME www.netbiome.org .
Colin has also chaired the Environment committee of the Institute of Biology (UK) (Society of Biology), has been a long-standing member of the British Ecological Society’s Public Policy Committee, and has served as President of the Kew Guild www.kewguild.org.uk .
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Gwyn Jones
Director
Gwyn Jones is the Forum's General Manager. Previously a self-employed consultant, he was a farm advisor for 13 years, giving a range of farm business, agri-environment and CAP paperwork advice. His main interest is the interaction of policy measures with socio-economic realities in marginal areas. Gwyn has been a member of the EFNCP Executive Committee since 1997 and has since then been active in organising and fund-raising for many workshops, seminars and conferences. He has also been involved in a number of research projects and represents the Forum on the DG Agriculture Advisory Group on Agriculture and Environment. At present he takes primary responsibility for the Forum finances and fund-raising.
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Karen MacRae
Director, Company Secretary
After a spell of primary teaching, Karen entered the business world, and ran two shellfish exporting companies in Scotland, with a combined turnover in excess of £8m and a staff of up to 100. Since 2001, she has worked as an independent business consultant and advisor, assisting many organisations in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland with management, business, HR and finance issues, carrying out feasibility studies and options appraisals, and running training courses. She still does some supply primary teaching.
She has undertaken EFNCP’s book-keeping and accounting work and prepared its management accounts since 2005, gradually becoming more involved and taking on more responsibilities. She operates the UK payroll and oversees the payroll operation in France, Bulgaria, Romania and Germany. Previous and current Board appointments include: Skye and Lochalsh Enterprise (chair): NGO responsible for economic and social development in the area; Canan Alba Ltd (Board member), the trading arm of Sabhal Mor Ostaig, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands; and the Isle of Skye Renewables Ltd (Board member), a local wind farm.
She joined EFNCP’s Board on 11th September 2011, also taking over the duties of Company Secretary.
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Davy McCracken
Director
Dr Davy McCracken’s interests revolve around obtaining a greater understanding of the complex ecological relationships of high nature value European farming systems. Davy has been involved with the EFNCP since its first meeting in 1988 and has acted in a personal capacity as a Director and honorary secretary since 1995. After completing his PhD in 1990, on research into the diet of the chough, he first worked at the University of Newcastle and then moved to the Joint Nature Conservation Committee where he helped highlight the nature conservation importance of less-intensive farming systems throughout Europe. Since joining the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) in 1995 he has managed a number of projects assessing the biodiversity value of farmland (e.g. the EU-funded Concerted Action PASTORAL)
Davy's interest in the farming and wildlife in hill and mountain areas was stimulated by being born and bred on a hill-sheep farm in southern Scotland. He lives in Ayrshire with his partner Karen and his son Ciaran.
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Xavier Poux
Director
Xavier Poux works at AScA, a consultancy company based in Paris involved in environmental policy analysis and strategy. He is an agro-economist by education and holds a PhD in rural economy. Since 1990, his main field of interest is to analyse how the development of farming systems is linked with the conservation of biodiversity and landscapes and how to better integrate biodiversity in policy making processes at different scales. To this purpose, he has been developing multidisciplinary studies and researches combining farming and agrarian system analysis, socio-economic and policy dimensions. In his activities he brings together public authorities and administration, environmental NGOs, farmer organisations and researchers.
Though he contributed for the French case study of the “Nature of Farming” in 1994, he has joined the Forum as an Exco member more recently, in 2005.
