Organic Producer Board
The Soil Association Organic Producer Board is an elected, representative group of organic producers from a range of backgrounds. The role of the Organic Producer Board is:
to advise the Soil Association on current and future priorities for the UK organic sector
to provide a “sounding board” for Soil Association policy and campaigns
to ensure that organic farmers, growers and food producers' needs and concerns are addressed by the Soil Association and the wider organic movement
to advise the Soil Association Executive and its Board of Trustees
The Board meet four times a year.
Please contact us to suggest issues you wish to see discussed.
Anthony Snell
Board Member
Anthony farms 450 acres with his wife in Herefordshire, growing soft fruit including strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and blackcurrants. With over 100 acres of Soil Association organic blackcurrants, they are the UK’s largest supplier in this niche. The farm produces about 2,100 tonnes of fruit with on‑site packing and processing. Anthony holds several industry roles, including Director of Berry Gardens and member of the Soil Association Organic Producer Board.
Ben Moseley
Chair
Ben has been an organic farmer in Devon since 1998, with experience in both growing and livestock. After ten years producing vegetables for a box scheme on free‑draining red soils near Exeter, he moved to heavier Culm soils at Summerhill. Now mainly a grassland farm, they focus on livestock, running a pedigree North Devon suckler herd. They have also shifted their poultry enterprise from laying hens to breeding and rearing geese for the Christmas market.
Dale Orr
Board Member
Dale farms just over 300 acres on the east coast of Northern Ireland with his father. They keep traditional beef cattle, mainly Aberdeen Angus and Herefords, and a pure‑bred flock of Lleyn ewes. The farm focuses on feeding fresh forage, with much of the land in multi‑species swards. It has been a Technology Demonstration Farm for four years and is researching lucerne as a forage crop. In 2023, Dale became a Nature Friendly Farming Network ambassador and hopes to host farmer visits.
Haydn Evans
Board Member
Haydn chairs the Welsh Organic Forum and farms 97 hectares with his wife and son. The dairy farm has around 100 cows of traditional breeds, supplying milk to Rachel’s Dairy in Aberystwyth. The farm uses a rotation of stubble turnips, wheat, wholecrop and clover leys. Haydn’s son now leads the holding after completing an MSc in organic agriculture, while Haydn focuses on young stock. He also serves as a farmer member of the Agricultural Land Tribunal.
Joe Rolfe
Board Member
Joe first became interested in farming as a child on his grandparents’ dairy farm. After studying agriculture at Usk College and Harper Adams, he worked with a major salad grower in Shropshire, sparking a passion for vegetables. He later worked for one of the UK’s largest brassica growers before moving into organic farming. Joe now runs RBOrganic in Norfolk, growing carrots, onions and brassicas for major UK supermarkets.
Mike Mallett
Arable representative, Board member
Mike has worked in farming for the past 45 years, starting in top fruit and strawberry production, followed by arable and field‑scale vegetables and more recently, poultry. He switched to organic principals in 2007 and now manages Maple Farm Kelsale, a 137ha family‑owned mixed organic farm on the Suffolk Coast. The farm is mostly arable, but also produces Maple Farm Kelsale brand organic eggs, which is integrated into the arable rotation.
Pete Richardson
Board Member
Pete has been growing Soil Association certified veg for more than 25 years at Westmill Farm and Coleshill Walled garden. He has 30 acres of field scale crops, which are sold through multiple outlets including box scheme, restaurants, shops and an honesty hut. He also supplies Helen Browning's Royal Oak Pub with vegetables grown at Eastbrook Farm.
Pete has also been Chair of the Organic Growers Alliance and a key part of the Soil Association's Future Growers Apprenticeship scheme.
Richard Allan
Soil Association Trustee, member of the Governance Committee and Trustee representative on the Organic Producer Board
Richard farms with his wife on a small mixed livestock farm in West Wiltshire, also managing top‑fruit and nut orchards and a local meat‑box scheme. The farm takes part in biodiversity projects, including wetland restoration and rotational wood pasture. Richard is a biologist and solicitor, and is General Counsel for a FTSE green‑economy manufacturer. He represents the Trustees on the Organic Producers Board and is a non‑executive director of an asbestos compensation fund.
Sophia Lysaczenko
Board Member
Sophia is co‑founder and operations co‑director of The Organic Growers Gathering. This annual grower event has a shared peer‑to‑peer and practical learning ethos. In such extreme weather and political landscapes, they found a need to unify their passions and strengthen their resilient farms, food systems and networks.
Tom Rigby
Board Member
Tom farms on the Lancashire–Cheshire border, supplying OMSCo to its produced without antibiotics standard. He also grows potatoes and vegetables and helped found Manchester Veg People. Tom has long been active in the NFU, most recently chairing its Organic Forum. He is also coordinator of the Sheep Dip Sufferers Support Group, supporting those affected by organophosphates.