Mary Rose Surfleet

Mary Rose has a background in climate change and the environmental sciences. After university in Ireland, she moved to in Australia and did a stint in vineyards and wineries learning the craft of winemaking, before nearly a decade on mine sites and large construction projects before moving back to Cornwall in 2018. Covid-19 and a young family brought an opportunity to go back to university and she completed an MSc in climate change and international development.

She is a freelancer working on various projects from climate justice through to environmental impact assessment, spatial analysis (GIS) and more recently sustainable food systems with Sustainable Food Cornwall.

Matthew Thomson

Previously chief exec at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall and Cornwall Food Foundation, Matthew has worked in social enterprise for most of his career, as well as in mainstream business, and now works for a variety of clients.

A chartered waste manager as well as a food activist with a hospitality background, he has been working with food systems for over 15 years including commercial food service, food skills capacity building and community development with food and compost.

He was a co-founding member of the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Nature Partnership, Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Leadership Board and Cornwall Food Access Alliance, and is on the boards of Regenerative Food and Farming CIC, food rescue charity the Hive Cornwall, and Pendennis Leisure CIO.

Peter Lefort

Peter is an environmental network facilitator, currently running the Green Futures Network at the University of Exeter.

He has held previous roles with Cornwall Council, and the Eden Project, and as co-chair of the international Transition Network.

While running the Community Action Group Project in Oxfordshire, he co-founded a number of community food projects including Feeding the Gaps and the Oxford Food Surplus Cafe.

He is also involved in the annual Oxford Real Farming Conference.