Cotswold farmer, Adam Henson, has joined The Happerley Advisory Board, chaired by Peter Jinman OBE, to help guide and steer the Happerley scheme in validating provenance for the benefit of the whole food industry and its consumers.
The Cotswold Farm Park aside, Adam (pictured above with Clfford Freeman from Happerley) runs a 650 hectare farm on which and his business partner Duncan operate a range of commercial farming activities, in addition to a growing contract farming business.
Peter Jinman welcomes his support. “Adam runs a pioneering farming business on many fronts. He has done more than most to connect consumers to the origins of their food. To have his support and expertise on board will be beneficial to everyone.”
Henson adds: “What I like about Happerley is that its sole objective is to validate provenance for the benefit of everyone - from farmer to consumer and everyone in-between. In the UK we are unique in having Farm Assured audIting, and there are many very worthwhile niche schemes and assurances. What is missing is a scheme for all that pushes no creed or standard but delivers the whole truth - from seed to plate, protecting the provenance premium for all."
Happerley looks forward to Adam playing a leading role in inspiring consumers, especially children, to explore and understand the provenance of the ingredients in their food, with a range of initiatives planned for 2018.
Adam joins a Board that already includes Phil Ponsonby, CEO of Midcounties Cooperative; Sian Edmunds, leading food, farming and agriculture lawyer and partner in Bristol law firm Burges Salmon; Chris Crookall-Fallon of Co-op Futures, a community and co-operative business specialist; and Clifford Freeman, who grew to sale to Cargill Foods his chicken processing business and is now a hotelier and farmer.
ROLE OF ADVISORY BOARD
1. To review and refine terms and conditions of membership, certification and passporting for the benefit of the whole food industry, consulting to The Happerley Council, comprising Founder Members.
2. Oversee the transition of its marque and certification process into a producer controlled entity.
NOTES
To date, Gloucestershire farmer and longtime software business owner, Matthew Rymer, has privately funded the project , that has drawn support from across the whole food industry and is being championed by Midcounties Co-operative. It is being considered as a potentially universal solution to beating food fraud and protecting provenance premium.
Following successful field trials and considerable new investment, next year will see a fast tracked membership growth. In 2018 it aims to have turned thousands of food businesses across the UK into Happerley Provenance Champions – with their ingredient supply chains certified and published into one public network.
Secondly, it expects to take the six passporting pilots, involving six food supply chains to MIdcounties Co-operative, to commercial realisation by 2019. This entails using proprietorial blockchain technologies to passport foodstuffs from birth or seed through complex manufacturing processes to instant consumer facing traceability on menu, on shelf and on pack.
This technology will be then made available across the whole food industry.
