Beanstalk Global /AHDB Talking Leaders Series: Graham Wilkinson – CEO of AHDB. Leadership is a Momentum Game: Reflections from the first 90 days in office.

Beanstalk Global

We know how important it is to be inspired by both big businesses and individuals, which is why we are excited to present Talking Leaders, a monthly initiative from the AHDB which will see a series of inspirational speakers share their life experiences and deliver impactful stories to the AgriLeader community.

In our May broadcast we are delighted to be joined by Graham Wilkinson, CEO of the AHDB to discuss his reflections from the first 90 days as CEO and how that is impacting how he rolls out his vision to inspire and promote British farmers and growers.

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 the AHDB.

Prior to joining AHDB in March this year, 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, 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 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.