Meet the Team

A friendly team that merges business knowledge, innovative thinking and agricultural experience.

Luke Halsey

Head of Farm491 & Programme Manager

Luke leads Farm491, building our partnerships, R&D and commercial initiatives to help grow the UK’s AgriTech ecosystem and promote the adoption of new technologies in the future of food production. Currently Luke is part of Defra’s National Food Strategy Advisory Oversight Group and the Strategic Taskforce in Agri-robotics. He is also a judge for The British Farming Awards, International Federation of Agricultural Journalists Awards, KTN Agri-tech and Food-tech showcase.

Luke has over 10 years experience working with high impact and venture capital funded start-ups, including working in California on climate change solutions across agrifood, energy and oceans. Prior to Farm491, he was Investment Director for California based impact Venture Capital fund AiiM Partners. He has also been involved in numerous research projects focused on breaking down barriers to adoption of innovation in the UK and U.S. to solve some of the biggest global social and environmental problems. Luke has a graduate degree in Mathematics from Oxford University.

Luke is a member of the Agricultural Productivity Task Force Innovation Task & Finish Group.

Contact Luke at luke.halsey@rau.ac.uk

Sarah Carr

Farm491 Innovation Specialist / AgriTech Commercialisation Associate

Sarah works with Farm491’s members to reach their full growth potential in the AgriTech and AgriFood ecosystem. Sarah provides one-to-one support, as well as running physical and online workshops covering business strategy, investment readiness and sector specific topics. Sarah also heads up our ERDF funded Inspiring AgriTech Innovation business support workshops. She is currently a mentor on the EIT Food Seedbed programme and a speaker at local and national events. She has a specific interest in technologies that encourage farmer empowerment and environmental sustainability.

Sarah grew up on her family farm in Shropshire. Following a Geography degree at Lancaster University, she was a Farm Trader for an agricultural merchant. Making a business model work for farmers is a core interest, as well as the challenges of a sustainable farming system, both environmentally and also for farmers themselves.

Contact Sarah at sarah.carr@rau.ac.uk

Verity Payne

Farm491 Centre and Events Manager

Verity manages Farm491’s three incubation and innovation sites covering co-working, offices and workshops. Her role covers bringing in new members to use the offices and co-working space, building the on-site agri-tech community and ensuring the general smooth running of the facilities. She is also responsible for the on-site events, working with members to exhibit at trade shows and leads on sponsorship opportunities. This has included leading the Agri-Innovation Den in collaboration with BASF and Farmer’s Guardian for 2018 and 2019, and oversight on Farm491’s inaugural agri-tech showcase – a two day event aimed at farmers with over 100 attendees.

Verity is a two-time graduate of the Royal Agricultural University with an undergraduate degree in Equine Science and post-graduate degree in Business Management. After graduating, Verity worked in property at Savills, and has been at Farm491 since it was founded in 2016. She has been a critical part of the team performing almost every role and seen it grow from just a handful of members to the international reach it has today.

Contact Verity at verity.payne@rau.ac.uk

Neave Anderson

Centre Coordinator

Neave works closely with Verity to ensure the smooth day to day running of Farm491’s incubation and innovation sites, covering new member on-boarding through to trouble shooting member issues. Neave also supports Farm491’s special projects which has included supporting the nationally important Future foods: Farming to Improve Health led by Lord Curry, including organising round-table dinners hosted at the House of Lords, and more recently project managing Farm491 international strategy to partner with strategically important incubators.

Neave came to Farm491 directly from graduating from the Royal Agricultural University with a degree in International Equine and Agricultural Business Management. Her interests in the sector lie in knowledge exchange and sustainable agriculture.

Contact Neave at neave.anderson@rau.ac.uk

Tara Dickinson-Barry

Marketing & Outreach Officer

Tara is in charge of our marketing and outreach activities, working closely with Sarah to promote the ERDF funded Inspiring AgriTech Innovation programme and coordinating promotional activity to reach potential AgTech SME’s to join the Farm491 network. She leads Farm491’s digital marketing strategy, managing all assets including the website and social media channels.

Tara is an experienced marketeer. After graduating from the Royal Agricultural University in 2015 with a degree in Equine Management (Science), she has worked in many marketing and outreach roles in agriculture, sporting and at marketing agencies. Tara has keen interest in the shooting industry, and as well as food traceability and consumer accountability.

Tara is also studying to be qualified with the Institute of Agricultural Secretaries and Administrators.

Contact Tara at tara.dickinson-barry@rau.ac.uk