People
From diverse professional backgrounds, our small core team found each other through a collective passion for regenerative farming. We are regularly joined by visiting facilitators and regenerative experts from the UK and around the world, who will help guide and support our course participants as they move towards regenerative systems.
Clare Hill
Clare is a practising regenerative farmer with a wealth of experience in farm transition, and at policy and corporate level, having worked across the full spectrum of the agri-food world for more than 20 years.
She has developed Planton Farm in Shropshire into a model regenerative farm offering accelerator and transition programmes and workshops.
Caring deeply about helping people find their own path to regeneration, Clare has pooled her knowledge, experience and extensive network to help farmers unearth what regeneration means to them and how it might look for their farming enterprise.
Alongside her work at Planton Farm, Clare is a director of Farming with Nature for New Foundation Farms - a regenerative agri-food enterprise prioritising health of soil, nature, communities and people.
In her previous role as Regenerative Agriculture Director at FAI Farms, Clare started the transition of a 1200 acre FAI Farm from organic to regenerative production. The farm achieved Savory Institute Ecological Outcome Verification in 2020.
She was integral to the success of a pioneering regenerative beef project on behalf of FAI and McDonalds won Compassion in World Farming’s Sustainable Food and Farming Award.
Clare has worked with large-scale businesses such as Arla and Ikea on their regenerative pilots and programmes, advising them on animal welfare, sustainability and the possibilities of a regenerative future for their business. She is also Director of Farming with Nature for New Foundation Farms.
Clare’s time is shared between farm management, education, advisory work and raising her two children with husband, Rupert. She is a regular speaker at food and farming summits and conferences including Oxford Real Farming Conference and Groundswell.
Ruth Layton
Ruth Layton is a veterinary surgeon, food producer and founder of a sustainable food consultancy. She is also the founder of Sankalpa, an organisation that supports innovators to become change-makers.
Ruth has extensive expertise and a global reputation for advancing animal welfare within the food sector. Ruth’s experience and her passion for food sustainability, in both local and global contexts, continues to shape Planton Farm’s economic, ethical and environmental policy and strategy. Mindfulness and meditation are an integral part of her life.
“After a lifetime of working in the food sector, I am now in a position to share what I have learned with others. I believe sustainability means caring for all kinds of people, all kinds of animals and the environment which sustains us. Studying consciousness and transpersonal psychology has magnified my understanding of the absolute necessity for humans to evolve and see ourselves as part of a whole if we are to live in harmony."
Rupert Hill
Rupert is essential to the running of the Planton Farm, having co-designed its buildings and overseen its transformation. Rupert explored new visions for a small family farm, remodelling it to make it financially viable while protecting the soil for future generations and producing food rich in phytonutrients.
Heading up our core infrastructure and farming operations, he has immense knowledge of electrics, plumbing, machinery and animal husbandry. Coming from a career in hospitality into farming, Rupert’s focus on time and motion has brought efficiency to day-to-day operations and also a curious questioning of why and how some things in farming happen.
All of the successes in their farming endeavors have been down to teamwork and sparking curiosity between them.
Rob Layton
One of the Directors of Planton Farm, Rob brings over 30 years of experience as a management consultant to support the development and growth of the business.
Rob is experienced in helping companies identify and address issues across a broad range of industries. He uses business planning and data manipulation to deliver management information and business intelligence.