2023 Solutions event – Future of crop nutrients – EVENT POSTPONED

Colm Markey is a Member of the European Parliament representing the constituency of Midlands North-West. Stretching from Connemara to Drogheda, Athlone to Malin Head, this is a diverse constituency with a variety of issues.

Colm lives in Togher, Co. Louth on his family farm, with his partner Aisling and their two young children. As a farmer, an entrepreneur, and a family man he understands many of the issues that affect our communities.

He is a former President of Macra na Feirme and has been a public representative for over a decade. With Brexit and Covid, CAP reform and our environment on the agenda the need for a constructive voice in Europe has never been more important. In his role in Macra he was involved in negotiations on behalf of members at both national and European levels.

Colm has a strong interest in Community Development and has secured vital funding for local recreation and community facilities. When appointed as MEP, he was serving as Chair of the Louth Leader partnership which has helped to establish over 200 sole traders and small businesses in the previous 12 months. He has also served on the Board of IFAC, The National Economic and Social Council and the National Youth Council of Ireland.

Max grew up on his family’s farm which he took over in 1986. Stor-Tötar Gård, is an old family farm that combines arable land and forestry in South Western Finland that has been in the family for around 400 years. Continuity that hopefully will go forward since Max is raising three boys together with his Spanish wife Marta.

Before taking over the full responsibility of running the farm and having taken a degree in agricultural economics, he became a grain trader for the Finnish Grain Board. After that Max worked in the agricultural machinery sector from 2003 until 2008. This job took him all over the world from America to China.  

For the last 15 years he has been working in the Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners (MTK) as the Advisor for cereals, oilseeds and protein crops.

Max was Chairman 2013–2019 of the Cereals Working Group in Copa-Cogeca based in Brussels. He is a member of the EU Arable Crops Market Observatory and 2018-20 Chairman of the Civil Dialogue Group, Arable Crops. From 2020 –. Owner of Farm-XPort Ltd, grain trading company for special consignments. Co-founder and member of the board of Grain Sense Ltd, the portable protein and quality analyzer for grains. Chairman of VYR the Finnish Grain Committee, 2018 – 2021. Chair of the Agri Food Chain Round Table on PPP 2020 – and vice chairman of the Copa Cogeca Phytosanitary WG from 2021-, vice chairman of the Seeds WG 2023.

Mark has enjoyed a long career in the agri-food sector having previously worked at the United Nations and for Syngenta where he held a number of senior leadership positions in corporate affairs and business sustainability in the EAME region and globally. After leaving Syngenta in 2017, Mark became Chief Executive of EngineeringUK, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to inspiring and nurturing STEM skills in young people. Mark later became Head of Marketing and Public Affairs for Indigo Agriculture Europe GmbH. Mark is a co-founder and senior adviser to the Forum for the Future of Agriculture and a Senior Fellow at the Transatlantic Policy Network.

Dr. Martin Voss is passionate about agriculture and sees the movement to more sustainably as an opportunity. At Indigo Agriculture, he leads a global team of field scientists developing biological solutions to abiotic (e.g. drought and nutrient stress) as well as biotic stressors (e.g. diseases and nematodes) of agricultural crops.

Martin has 25 years of experience in plant protection (inc. biological), agribusiness, floriculture and ingredients industries with a focus on strategy development and implementation, business transformation, portfolio management, product development, field sciences among others. 

Martin holds a doctorate and master degrees in plant protection and agronomy from the University of Göttingen, Germany