About us

The Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel (IAAP) considers appeals against decisions of the Rural Payments Agency.

Our responsibilities

The IAAP is responsible for:

Who we are

Current panel members are:

Name Details
Alaric Pritchard A Management Consultant in Northeast England. Alaric is a Fellow of the Association of Project Managers and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is an academic in practice with the Open University Business School with an interest in Strategy. He previously held the role of a Non-Executive Director (NED) with National Health Service (NHS) for the North of Tyne Primary Care Trust.
Alex Carson-Taylor An independent agri-food supply chain specialist. Working with farmers, producers and food manufacturers worldwide, Alex manages changes in legislation, regulation, policy, international trade and the global economy. He is a professional fellow of the Institute of Agricultural Management, a Chartered Environmentalist, and Certified International Trade Advisor. He also is Chair of the Agricultural Law Association and Chair of the Shropshire Hills National Landscape Partnership.
Clare James A lecturer in law at the University of Leeds. Clare previously worked as a veterinary pathologist with special interest in farm animal diseases.
Clare Lees Farmer on an extensive organic beef farm in Dorset. Clare’s farm has been heavily diversified into tourism with cafes, shops and utilising renewable energy.  She has held the position of Chairperson of Wareham National Farmers Union (NFU) and Director of a badger cull area.
Fiona Taylor Currently serving as a Non-Executive Director (NED) of an arable farm in Kent after holding the position of Managing Director.  Fiona has also worked as an academic research scientist within plant sciences.
George Philip Having recently retired from his rural surveying career as a professional valuer and estate agent with Strutt and Parker. George is now self employed as a Farmer and guardian of a mixed agricultural holding of over 260 acres in North Oxfordshire. George has a small herd of pedigree Beef Shorthorn cattle and some 100 commercial breeding ewes. 100 acres of his land is farmed by a neighbouring farmer. The land is used for high end hay and forage production sold to feed horses, and various pets including rabbits and guinea pigs. The remaining land is grazed by his own cattle and sheep.   George has lived and worked in Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds for most of his working life.
Heather Holloway Runs a free-range egg farm with her husband. Heather has previous experience working on an arable family farm which diversified into property development.
Jackie Symmons A freelance consultant in Ecology and Wildlife Management from Brecon. Jackie is also an independent member of the Welsh Government Appeals Panel for Farmers and Foresters and for Glas Cymru that supports the management of Welsh Water.
Jim Egan A Sustainable Farming Advisor for Kings Crops - Frontier Agriculture’s specialist crops and environmental land management business. Jim shares technical advice and recommendations across a range of government and private funding schemes.  He helps with the practical delivery of environmental options on farms and estates. Previously Jim spent eight years working on the Allerton Project with the Game and Wildlife Trust. As head of training and development, he helped to establish the big farmland bird count. Prior to this, Jim worked as Technical Director for the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group. Jim has over 20 years of experience of working closely with Defra on the development and delivery of Agri-Environment schemes in England.
Jane Dyson A Farmer of a large dairy herd in Buckinghamshire. Previously, Jane was Director of a large farming co-operative buying group. She has previously served as a board member for European Dairy Farmers.
Jeremy Jones A Management Consultant and Magistrate based in Derbyshire. Jeremy is currently studying agriculture at Hartpury University and is a Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (MIMechE). His first degree was in Engineering Science from Durham University.
John Morris A Judge specialising in First-tier Residential Property Tribunal. John is a former university and agricultural college lecturer and researcher in environmental and property law. Past Chairman of a university ethics committee.
Kerry Maguire An Agricultural Plant Scientist based in the UK. Kerry was involved in the UK and global crop research for an international company.  She led in the technical evaluation of disease management techniques in combinable crops. Kerry also worked with growers to understand disease issues, testing new methods, varieties and technologies to reduce crop loss due to disease.
Mallory Partridge A lecturer in agriculture at Wiltshire College and University, Lackham Campus. Mallory is a former Agronomist and Field Trials Manager with over 30 years of experience working with farmers, agrochemical companies and private research institutions. He is an advocate of emerging technologies and regenerative farming.
Martin Smith Member of the General Regulatory Chamber (Transport) since 2022, Martin has been hearing appeals from transport companies and bus operators against rulings by traffic commissioners.  He has also been a member of the Valuation Tribunal Service since 2016, hearing appeals from business rate payers and council taxpayers disputing their bills. He helps on a friend’s dairy farm with their cheese making business. Martin was a Magistrate for 25 years until 2022. He was also Company Director of a rural based building business and member of the Chartered Association of Building Engineers.
Martin Soble An organic fruit farmer in Herefordshire, a Magistrate on Worcestershire Bench and Chairman of his local Parish Council.  Previously Martin was a member of the Soil Association Standards Board.
Matthew Biddick A graduate in agriculture from the Royal Agricultural College. Matthew has experience in management of large-scale agri-business and land/property management. He is employed by a global corporate company, working in biomethane production in the UK. He is also an arable and livestock farmer in Cornwall.
Matthew Smith An arable farmer on land both owned and tenanted in the Cambridgeshire fens. Matthew has agreements for Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) and Countryside Stewardship (CS). He is also a local Internal Drainage Board (IDB) member and he has held the role of chair for Cambridgeshire National Farmers Union and was a National Farmers Union (NFU) National Sugar Board member.
Morgan Williams An Associate Director at Savills, he sits as a member of the First Tier Tribunal for Agricultural Land and Drainage and of the Rural Payments Wales Independent Agricultural Appeals Panel.  Morgan comes from a mixed family farming background, is an alumnus of the Welsh Government Agri Academy and a past volunteer with the Farming Community Network (FCN).
Neil Pickard An Independent Agricultural Consultant based in North Yorkshire. Neil was previously an Associate Director for ADAS UK Ltd where he worked for 38 years. He was an employee of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) where he worked as a beef and sheep knowledge transfer officer. He was also an employee of North Yorkshire Council as the Beyond Nature Farming Officer for Yorkshire Water.
Neil Swain A Rural Chartered Surveyor based in North Yorkshire and an associate member of Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and Fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV). Neil was a Member of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority.
Nick Hamer A tenant farmer from South Shropshire. Nick farms in partnership with family members on a mixed farm producing beef, lamb and cereals. He is Chairman to the NFU legal board and has been a board member for over ten years. He previously held the role of Chairman for South Shropshire NFU and he is currently Vice Chairman of Burwarton Show Livestock Committee.
Peter Morris Partner in a family-owned consultancy business based in Devon. Peter has spent his life working in the livestock industry which is where he still focusses his time. He is involved in training assessors and is diversifying his consultancy business into areas connected to agriculture and property. Peter has worked for a major meat processor. He has been CEO of the National Sheep Association, worked for an animal identification company and the NFU.  He developed a red meat brand and managed a large livestock estate in Shropshire. Peter is a past National Chairman of Young Farmers.
Shane McAuliffe Currently a livestock farmer for pigs and beef in Ireland. Shane is the Chairman of Bóthar (Irish International Development NGO). He is also a lecturer, farm advisor and consultant.
Sharon Earp A diverse employment history in senior management roles in both public and private sector organisations. Sharon’s primary focus is in change management and customer service strategy. She was a partner on a Leicestershire family dairy farm. They diversified from dairy cattle to purpose-built dairy goat unit supplying the brand St Helens Farm.  A further diversification project established a successful rural tourism business winning multiple Visit England national awards. Sharon has been Chair for the Bosworth Rural Tourism Association. She has also been a past Chair for North Warwickshire Hinckley Bosworth LEADER Local Action Group (LAG). The LAG was responsible for delivering the £1.4 million grant award from the national LEADER (Defra) programme. A strong autonomous partnership with representation from the private, third sector and the NFU.
Simon Haley Currently a Company Director and Independent Rural Business Adviser working across the Northwest region. Simon is a Fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers and a member of their farming and business technical committee. He is a professional Fellow and council member of the Institute of Agricultural Management. A Fellow of the British Institute of Agricultural Consultants, and a member of the BASIS Environmental Advisers Register. He was also a deliverer of the Defra Farm Resilience Fund between 2021 to 2025.
Sue Poultney Grew up on a dairy farm in Cheshire. Sue established her own small business working as a consultant offering legal advice. Sue is a retired UK solicitor and has practiced in the UK and Botswana. During her time in Botswana, she was appointed an acting judge of the Industrial Court.
Tracey Langton-Ballard Farms alongside her family on their mixed dairy and beef farm in Derbyshire. The farm prides itself in milking pedigree Holstein Friesian cows and rearing Aberdeen Angus cross calves. Tracey holds a BA (Hons) in Business Administration and a MA in Organisational Analysis and Behaviour. She is currently a Member of the Lord Chancellors Advisory committee and is a panel judge for show ponies, show hunter ponies and mountain and moorland ponies. Previously Tracey worked for the Department of Education on the Agriculture, Environmental and Animal Care T Level panel developing the T level qualification in livestock production. She is a former parish councillor and primary and secondary school governor.
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