Who We Are
The Team
Food from Farming and the wider team bring together their breadth of experience and expertise to support food and farming businesses whilst sticking to our ethos of collaboration, sustainability, locality and enhancing circular economies.
Read more about our sustainability here.
Sheena
Sheena has been involved in agriculture all her life and on returning home to Galloway, diversified into growing chillies and more recently into a range of hardy herbs. It is through the chilli growing business that Sheena developed a growing network of food and drink businesses throughout Scotland. She is a firm believer in developing skills, collaboration and the circular economy which led her to setting up Food from Farming, a second business to enable her to do this and advise others.
She believes strongly in the locality and seasonality of food and drink, which is founded from her farming background and passion for sustainability and the benefits this brings to local and rural economies. These skills are currently being used in her role as the regional food and drink coordinator in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Manager of the Farming Community Network.
In the summer of 2020 Sheena founded #Run1000, a fundraising event held throughout January highlighting the positive effects that both running and walking have on your mental as well as physical health while raising funds for rural mental health charities. She continues to run and enter events regularly, pushing herself out of her comfort zone and challenging herself.
She is a director of the Oxford Farming Conference, the vice-chair of The Crichton Trust board, a trustee of The Solway Firth Partnership, a graduate of the Scottish Enterprise Rural Leadership Programme and a member of the Dumfries and Galloway Local Employability and Skills Partnership.
Need support or advice then please don’t hesitate in getting in touch with her.
Eilidh
Eilidh has always been impassioned by the food and drink industry, she gained a First-Class Honours Degree in Food and Consumer Science. Her time at university enhanced her love for the industry. From working within a new product development department to investigating the application of peas for alcoholic fermentation and distillation, as well as various modules covering sensory evaluation, marketing and food processing, she gained numerous key skills. Eager to transfer her knowledge, she obtained employment within the quality department at a food factory.
She has been a foodie since day 1. Growing up in a rural community catalysed her passion and keen interest for food. Eilidh remembers going out to a local restaurant when she was about 10 and refusing the children’s menu with the response…” No thank you, I’ll have the fillet steak, rare, with chips and whisky sauce please”.
She believes food isn’t only necessary for survival, but it brings happiness. Food can bring people closer together, create smiles around the whole dinner table and warm the heart when you’re needing it most.
Falling into the millennial/Gen Z bracket, she’s been brought up with the advancement of the internet and growth of social media. Eilidh is a huge fan of the creative and marketing side of social media and has completed multiple digital marketing courses.
In her spare time, she loves baking and decorating cakes, exploring new places and going out for meals with loved ones.
Being able to help you within your business by sharing her passions is a dream come true and she looks forward to working together.
David
David spent 25+ years in the Technology sector, predominately working in the legal sector. Honing his skills in compliance, risk, and business continuity, culminating as IT Director for a multi-jurisdiction law firm. In his spare time he developed a passion to support local food producers and offered a ‘Stall sitting’ service where he would work with the business and represent them at farmers’ markets – selling their product and allowing their reach to expand. He also offered free business advice and support to small F&D businesses. He seized the opportunity a few years ago to adjust his career to move into the food sector. He is now the Regional Food Group coordinator for Ayrshire, and a STEM Food & Drink ambassador – aiming to providing innovative and engaging insight on the food sector to schools, colleges, and universities.
For fun he delivers gin tasting events in local communities, often raising funds for charities. He has a strong belief in health and well being and is proud to also work with The Farming Community Network and Macmillian Cancer Support to promote cancer awareness to rural communities across Scotland.
Food from Farming is passionate about sustainability, and that commitment has been acknowledged by the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere. Biospheres are the only internationally recognised ‘badge’ for demonstrating excellence in sustainable development.