Minette Batters was the first woman President of the National Farmers’ Union, representing over 46,000 farming businesses across England and Wales through 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.  In 2020 she brought together 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.

Minette trained as a Cordon Bleu chef, is mother to twins and is a tenant farmer on the Longford Estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire. She began farming in 1998 having sold her house, negotiated the farm business tenancy and started with fifteen beef cows. Today the farm has a Spring and Autumn calving Aberdeen Angus beef herd, arable crops and a few sheep and a wide range of diversified activities. Minette 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, and in July 2024 was made a Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords.

Baroness Batters supports the work of the Centre for Food Policy and Foresight through her connections with industry and policy makers and sharing experience of effective policy communication with our students and staff.