Tom MacMillan

Director of Innovation

Tom leads our work to support ways of farming that are better for nature, people and farm animals. This aims for more and even better organic farming, and to help organic farmers make an even bigger difference by sharing what they learn and influencing policy. His team looks after our Organic Standards and the charity’s practical work with farmers. Soon after arriving at the Soil Association in 2011, he started Innovative Farmers, a network that backs practical, sustainable research by farmers.

Separately from his work at the Soil Association, Tom advises the RSA Food, Farming & Countryside Commission.

Tom came to us from the Food Ethics Council, where he’d been executive director since 2003. His work there included ‘The Food and Fairness Inquiry’, for which FEC received the BBC Food & Farming Derek Cooper Award. He has served on various advisory groups and boards, including for the Cabinet Office’s Food Matters report, ScienceWise, the BBSRC, Sustain and the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership. He has a PhD in geography from the University of Manchester, where he investigated the use and abuse of science in food regulation.