“Women in Food and Farming” is a group of professional women in food, agriculture and the land-based industries at all stages of their careers, who get together to discuss business issues, support each other via mentorship and advice, and help generate networks of contacts that might be useful to themselves and their businesses.

Founded in 2011 by Christine Tacon CBE, the group started back in 2011 with just five women and has now grown to over 500 members. Christine is known to many as the first Grocery Code Adjudicator and head of the Co-op’s farming business, she has just been appointed Chair of Assured Food Standards which operates the Red Tractor Assurance scheme amongst other roles.

Beanstalk is very proud to offer our extensive platforms to allow Women in Food and Farming to continue their conversation and debate and to encourage new members ongoing to join them, be that on a virtual Broadcast basis.

In our February Broadcast, we are delighted to have Sapphira Waterson - COO of Management Development Services.

Saffy utilises her skills in people development to help individuals find their best fit in the food and fresh produce industry. Sapphira has many years of experience working within people development as well as a career in welfare and social work, including the Probation Service and prior to that working for SSAFA with the RAF. She has a Bsc in Criminal Justice studies and a BA in Social Science and Social Policy.

She will be discussing with us all – “Socioeconomic bias and the effects on professional opportunities”.

When we think of Socioeconomic status (SES) most people consider income and an individual ability to live a lifestyle based on their financial status. However, the effects are far more extensive and impact educational achievement, social status and opportunity to reach professional attainment. This is not necessarily because of an individual’s ability or potential but often due to the unconscious bias of those at a higher level.

Generally, people believe they do not hold discriminatory beliefs, but in reality, we all do, because we are influenced by social stereotypes which categorise individuals or groups. Greater awareness can enable us to make positive changes to processes and actively offer equal opportunities. This will never be achieved if we continue to assess potential based on criteria that many people have not had the opportunity to experience.