Lincolnshire · UK Food Valley · Grimsby
Data & AI for Lincolnshire’s
food and farming sector.
Lincolnshire produces one-eighth of England’s food. Grimsby processes around seventy percent of the UK’s seafood. The county is the heart of the UK Food Valley — the densest food production and processing cluster in Britain. Most of it still runs on spreadsheets, paper batch sheets and disconnected systems.
I’m a Power BI and data consultant based in Grimsby. I build the data infrastructure that farms, processors and agritech operators in Lincolnshire need to meet incoming regulation, claim subsidies properly, prove compliance and actually understand what’s happening across their operations.
The next 12 months
Two regulatory deadlines. One urgent data problem.
The sector has spent a decade getting away with spreadsheets and paperwork. The next eighteen months don’t give it that option. Two pieces of regulation are landing back-to-back, and neither tolerates the current state of the data.
January 2026
Mandatory digital traceability
Food processors are expected to produce digital lot, batch and movement records on demand. A lot of the region’s processors are still on paper and Excel.
Mid 2026
SFI26 launches
The new Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme begins, but DEFRA’s software isn’t expected to handle it properly until 2028. Farms need their own way to track actions and claim accurately.
How I help
Eight focus areas for food and farming data work
01
Digital Traceability for Food & Seafood Processors
Replacing paper logs and Excel batch sheets with proper digital traceability — line-to-pallet visibility, lot tracking and recall-ready reporting. Built for the food processors and seafood factories around Grimsby and Humberside who need to meet the January 2026 mandatory traceability deadline.
02
SFI26 Subsidy Reporting & Compliance
Power BI dashboards built around SFI26 actions, payment claims and compliance evidence. DEFRA's own software isn't expected to handle SFI26 properly until 2028 — farms and estates need their own data infrastructure to claim accurately in the meantime.
03
Food Safety Audit Dashboards
BRCGS, SALSA and Red Tractor compliance reporting in one place. Audit-ready evidence packs, non-conformance tracking, CCP monitoring and supplier assurance — pulled straight from the operational data instead of compiled by hand the week before an audit.
04
Waste Reduction Analytics
Identifying loss points across processing lines — yield variance, give-away, off-spec rejects and downtime. The numbers usually exist already. The problem is no one's putting them on the same page so the loss is visible.
05
Precision Agriculture Data
Yield prediction models, soil and nutrient monitoring, drainage and irrigation telemetry, and crop planning analytics. Pulling together data from John Deere Operations Center, Climate FieldView, Gatekeeper and any number of soil sensors into one usable picture.
06
Carbon & Environmental Reporting
SECR compliance, scope 1/2/3 emissions tracking, water use and sustainability metrics — built around the data farms and processors already collect for assurance schemes, not as a separate reporting burden.
07
Supply Chain Visibility
End-to-end tracking from farm to processor to retailer. Provenance, mileage, lot history and condition data joined together so the chain can answer the question retailers are increasingly asking: where exactly did this come from, and how was it handled.
08
Water Management Data
Internal Drainage Board reporting, abstraction licence tracking and irrigation optimisation. Lincolnshire is one of the most water-managed landscapes in the country — the reporting that goes with it should be automated, not manual.
Why work with me
Local, certified, defence-grade discipline
Based in Grimsby
On the doorstep of the UK's largest food processing cluster. I work on-site across Grimsby, Immingham, Boston, Spalding, Lincoln and the wider county when it matters.
20+ years enterprise experience
Including DV-cleared defence environments where evidence, audit trails and getting the numbers right are non-negotiable. Same standards applied to food safety and assurance.
Microsoft Certified
Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, SharePoint, Power Apps and Power Automate — the stack most food and farming businesses already pay for but rarely use properly.
Local sector understanding
Seafood and food processing on the docks, arable and root crops across the Wolds and Fens, ports and logistics across the Humber. I already know how the work actually runs.
Common questions
Working with a data consultant in Lincolnshire’s food and farming sector
Do you only work with big food processors?
No — engagements range from single-farm SFI26 dashboards through to multi-site traceability rollouts across processors. A 45-minute Clarity Session is £89 and is the right first step whatever the scale.
Mandatory digital traceability from January 2026 — what does it actually mean?
From January 2026, food businesses are expected to maintain digital records of inputs, processing steps and outputs that can be produced quickly in the event of a recall or audit. A lot of processors in the region are still relying on paper batch sheets and Excel — that won't meet the bar. The fix isn't usually a new system, it's structuring what's already being captured so it's queryable.
Why does SFI26 need its own reporting if DEFRA has a portal?
DEFRA's own software stack isn't expected to support SFI26 properly until 2028, but the scheme launches mid-2026. That gap means farms and estates need their own way to track which actions are being delivered, on which parcels, against which payment rates — and to produce evidence on demand. Power BI on top of existing farm management software handles this well.
We already use Gatekeeper / Muddy Boots / Greenlight — can you work with that?
Yes. Most of the work is joining up systems that already exist — farm management software, processing line systems, ERP, assurance scheme portals — rather than replacing any of them. The data is usually already there; the problem is it lives in five places.
Can you handle the IT and security side for food processors?
Yes. The DV-cleared background means information governance, access control and audit trails are second nature. For food processors with retailer assurance requirements, that matters.
Do you cover Boston, Spalding, Lincoln and the rest of Lincolnshire?
Yes — Grimsby is home, but the whole county is the patch. On-site visits across Lincolnshire and the Humber are routine. Day-to-day delivery normally runs remotely, which keeps fees down.
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