Innovation for Agriculture United Kingdom
Innovation for Agriculture (IfA) connects farming and research while working with leading agricultural researchers, businesses, landowners, and farmers to develop the knowledge and technologies that will make modern farming more sustainable, resilient, and productive. Through practical and interactive workshops, farm walks, and on-farm demonstrations, IfA help agricultural businesses to put this knowledge into practice.
For BIOFRAME IfA leads the dissemination and knowledge exchange work package (WP5), ensuring project outputs reach farmers, advisors, policymakers, and the broader agricultural community. IfA will coordinate communication materials, events, newsletters, social media, and farmer-facing resources, translating research into accessible guidance. The organisation will also support pilot farm recruitment, stakeholder networking, and the delivery of training to maximise uptake and impact across the livestock sector.
Tasks: Dissemination, UK pilot farms, training & communication materials
Lead: Holly Shearman
Role: WP5 Lead
Funder
Department for environment, Food and Rural Affairs: DEFRA is the UK Government department responsible for safeguarding the environment, supporting food and farming and sustaining the rural economy.
Holly Shearman
Holly grew up on a mixed livestock farm in South-East England, her background is in project managing livestock disease eradication programmes, helping farmers engage with vets and industry to improve the health and welfare of their livestock and ultimately the efficiency and sustainability of their businesses; she is also a Registered Animal Medicines Adviser (RAMA) and feed adviser. In her spare time, she helps run her family farm, and manages their flock of sheep with her partner. She is passionate about helping farmers farm in a sustainable way, the benefits that this can bring to their businesses and in educating the general public on where their food comes from and the importance of supporting our farmers by buying locally produced, high welfare produce.
Iory Hughes
Iory graduated from Harper Adams University with a degree in Agriculture with Animal Science with a dissertation exploring the potential of feeds to reduce methane emissions from dairy cattle. He has worked with a variety of farms covering beef, sheep and dairy production as well as cereal and potato enterprises. After university Iory spent a year in New Zealand working on a high-country station and a sheep dairy unit. Since joining IfA he has specialised in developing sustainable practices on livestock farms.
Catherine Carlton
Catherine earned her degree at Northampton University and has built a diverse career within the farming industry. She has worked in multiple areas, including retail at an agricultural merchant and eight years working with a farm animal veterinary practice. During her time there, she contributed both in the office and out on farm, gaining hands-on experience with TB testing. Catherine currently runs IFA’s Calf Action Network.