The Semex International Dairy Conference

12th - 14th January 2025

Now in its 34th year, The Semex Conference is regarded as the UK’s most respected dairy forum with the aim to promote debate on the issues of the day, improve technical understanding, explore consumer trends and help drive the agenda on important subjects for the sector such as milk politics, supply chains, economics, sustainability, animal health and technological advancements.

The 2025 Conference will be held in Glasgow, Scotland from Sunday 12th to Tuesday 14th January 2025 and is titled, As One Together, with the goal being to bring all areas of the dairy industry together to inspire, challenge and inform our delegates.

As pressures on UK food security continue, it is more important than ever that our industry works together to overcome the challenges and multiple threats that climate change and disease, together with a growing global population and changing consumer patterns, can cause. Challenges are nothing new to our industry, but we can and must find the solutions.

All experts in their area, our speakers from end to end of the food supply chain, will share their experience, views, plans & outlook for the future.

Join us in January, AsOneTogether.

Book now and take advantage of the early bird offer

MINETTE BATTERS

Minette Batters was the first woman to be elected President of the National Farmers’ Union in 113yrs. She’s represented the interests of over 46,000 farming businesses across England and Wales through unprecedented times, navigating the challenges of Brexit, Covid 19 and the war in Ukraine. During this time she worked with four Prime Ministers – three of them in one year and six Defra secretaries of State. She stood down from the post in February 2024. Campaigning about the importance of British food and farming and its ability to achieve Net Zero has been a key driver for Minette. In 2020 she led the NFU on one of the most successful campaigns ever seen, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts – resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. Minette also co-founded ‘Ladies in Beef’ and the Great British Beef Week. She has regularly engaged with different media, including frequent appearances on the ‘Today’ programme, ‘Question Time’, ‘Any Questions’, ‘Desert Island Discs’, Woman’s Hour and other national print and broadcast media. She is currently writing a monthly piece for Country Life magazine. Minette is mother to twins and a tenant farmer, near Salisbury, Wiltshire. The farm has an Aberdeen Angus beef herd, arable crops and a few sheep. The business is diversified, with a wedding and events venue in a 17th century tithe barn, winter grazing for polo ponies. Alongside a recently restored walled garden, growing native British flowers and a cottage holiday let. Minette trained as a Cordon Bleu chef, is an ambassador for Farm Africa and a passionate advocate and fundraiser for the Junior Diabetic Research Foundation. She’s run in four marathons, raising over 100,000 for charity. In 2021 Minette was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

OUR 2025 CONFERENCE CHAIR...

GRAHAM WILKINSON

ED TOWERS

CEO, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB)

UK DAIRY FARMER

Graham is an experienced agriculturalist with a deep understanding of best-practice production methods – particularly across the dairy, beef, lamb, pork and poultry sectors. He has gained considerable practical knowledge from his time working on his family farm as well as for Tesco PLC, Arla Foods and now AHDB. Prior to joining AHDB on 1 March 2024, Graham led the Global Agriculture team at Arla Foods, supporting over 8,500 cooperative farmer owners across seven markets and managing the delivery of innovative commercial milk concepts on farm. During his extensive career at Arla, he worked in both UK and global roles, helping to steer and develop a data-driven, on-farm sustainability agenda, both for specific commercial customers and the wider cooperative. He has also spent time in the retail sector at Tesco PLC, joining the company in 2011 as Agriculture Manager. During this time, Graham was integral to the implementation of Tesco’s Sustainable Farming Groups within its MFPE category before moving across to the dairy category. Working alongside Tesco’s Sustainable Dairy Group members, he helped develop the company’s agriculture policy and strategy for the dairy category while collaborating with the Commercial and Technical Teams. Graham also developed the Tesco Future Farmer Foundation’, which was established to support new entrants and young farmers to launch their careers in agriculture. In his role as CEO of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Graham is looking forward to promoting and unleashing the full potential of British farmers and growers for the future and is absolute in the view that British agriculture is among the best in the world.

Edward Towers is a forward-thinking dairy farmer based in Lancaster, shaped by personal physical and mental health challenges early in his career. He is renowned for his unconventional approach to both business and life. With a deep-seated passion for sustainable agriculture and technological innovation, Edward is focusing his energy on transforming his farm into a model of efficiency and environmental stewardship. Raised on the family farm, Edward blends hands-on experience with formal education in Agriculture and Animal Science from Harper Adams University College. His understanding of dairy farming is enriched by a keen awareness of the modern challenges the agricultural industry faces today, including climate change and the need for economic sustainability. Edward’s family business is distinguished by his pioneering development of Barista milk in the UK—a product tailored to meet the specific demands of coffee shops in search of premium milk solutions. This initiative has not only redefined industry standards but also underscored his commitment to innovation and quality. Beyond his work on the farm, Edward has participated in a Nuffield scholarship, investigating the integration of advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and artificial intelligence to improve traceability, efficiency, and sustainability in agriculture. His efforts are directed towards incentivising farming practices that nurture the ecosystem and bolster the livelihoods of farmers. Edward’s unique perspective offers invaluable lessons not only for those within the dairy industry but also for the broader agricultural community.

CHRIS WALKLAND

DAVID READ

Commentator and Market Analyst

Chairman, Prestige Purchasing

Specialising in the dairy sector for over 25 years, Chris has commented on all aspects of the dairy supply chain from primary production down on the farm, through economics and politics at processor, retailer and consumer level. Chris writes the fortnightly dairy report for The Provision Trade Federation, and a monthly column in British Dairying and is “everybody’s favourite dairy market analyst” with his regular contribution on the weekly Kite Podcast.

David established supply chain consultancy Prestige Purchasing in 1998, since then it has become recognised as the thought leader on procurement and distribution within the Foodservice sector. The company’s Foodservice Price Index report has become an important part of the sectors discourse and is widely respected as the major source of insight into historic and future food market performance. David has spoken at World Travel Market, Food Ethics Council Business Forum, and several Propel and MCA Report events. Amongst many industry and media appearances, he has appeared on BBC Breakfast, and on BBC Radio 4’s You & Yours discussing food inflation, and the future of food and drink in the UK.

GEMMA NICHOLAS

Business Operations Director,
Coca-Cola Company

MATT MCREADY

CEO, Semex Alliance

As Semex’s Chief Executive Officer since January 2024, Matt leads Semex’s global bovine genetics business. In this role Matt is responsible for setting and executing Semex's strategic plan, along with the Semex Board of Directors, determining Semex's short and long-term priorities, and expanding Semex's global footprint. Worldwide over 1800 people work on behalf of Semex, its operating companies, subsidiaries, and distributors, servicing clients in more than 80 countries. Matt joined Semex in 2018 as Director of International Sales & Business Development. In this role he led Semex’s Asian business unit, providing leadership in one of the world’s fastest-growing dairy markets. He was promoted to Vice President, International Sales, in 2020 providing leadership to our international sales managers worldwide and overseeing the Semex Beef Program. In 2022, Matt was named Chief Commercial Officer, reshaping Semex’s corporate structure to effectively streamline all client-facing operations into one cohesive department. Previously Matt was Director of Business Development, Hybrid Turkeys at Hendrix Genetics, a global leader in animal genetics focused on providing animal proteins to meet global food production needs. Hendrix has locations in 25 countries and over 3400 employees. While at Hendrix, Matt led their global marketing program, working closely with global sales directors and region managers. Before that, Matt held several positions at PepsiCo Canada.

Gemma is a 33 year old farmers daughter from the North Wales/Cheshire border. Gemma has worked in retail and FMCG for the last 11 years following her studies at Cardiff University. She is currently Business Operations Director at the Coca Cola Company however started her career at Marks & Spencer running their stores in both Cardiff and London, then moving on to Muller Dairy where she moved through various sales roles and latterly Coca Cola where she has held both sales, marketing and strategic project roles. Gemma has a wealth of experience on how to build a brand, sell to retailers and consumers and most importantly join the end to end together.

KEITH GUE

HELEN DENT

UK Farmer, Huddlestone Farmers Ltd

Head of Sustainability, Kite Consulting

Keith is a Director at Huddlestone Farmers Ltd. having begun his career outside of agriculture and at Genus ABS before moving home. He is currently responsible for 700 milking cows across two robotic herds in West Sussex in the family business. In the past 2 years Keith has installed 12 Lely Robots, got married, had a baby and taken on a contract farming agreement so life has been fairly busy! Performance has significantly improved since the switch to robots with average yields of 40+kgs/cow/day & over 3kgs CFP/cow/day. Consistently at the top of the PLI rankings; genetics remains a cornerstone of the dairy. The aim of the dairies is to let the cows express themselves to the best of their ability.

Helen Dent is the Head of Sustainability at Kite Consulting specialising in dairy sustainability, carbon footprinting and soil science. She works with farmers and processors to find practical ways of improving carbon footprint alongside profitability and farm resilience. Alongside this, Helen farms alongside her Husband Tom on their 200-cow robotic dairy herd in Cumbria where they are working to futureproof their farms sustainability and resilience, both economically and environmentally. Helen comes from an agronomy background and is passionate about the role of soil health in our livestock systems, believing that we should look at what soil carbon can do for us, rather than just what we can do for soil carbon.

SARAH TOMLINSON

Lead Veterinary Science Expert, AHDB

Sarah Tomlinson is the Lead Veterinary Science Expert at AHDB and is also the Technical Director of the TB Advisory Service (TBAS). Throughout her long career in clinical farm practice she has been passionate about improving livestock health and productivity by reducing the risk and impact of endemic disease. More recently she has developed a keen interest in social science especially around human behaviour and achieving positive change on farm. Sarah is a member of the Government stakeholder group the bTB Partnership and is a board director for the British Cattle Veterinary Association (BCVA).