Natalie Gaibani

She has run major Defra-commissioned research programmes, operated at interim board level, and managed complex mixed farming enterprises. She is recognised for her ability to build trust with farming communities and deliver commercially sensitive research to exacting public sector standards.

Following a 12 year career as a police officer, including 3 in charge of a busy investigation team in Slough, Natalie took over running the family business - a diverse arable/dairy farm in Berkshire.  Over 7 years she transformed the estate from loss-making to profitable, overseeing strategic asset development, the sad closure of the dairy farm, new revenue streams, and the growth of a large equestrian enterprise including livery yard, horse trials and grazing licenses.  In 2022 she completed her MSc in Rural Land and Business Management at Reading University, graduating with Distinction and award for top mark. 

She moved into farm consultancy at Promar International, overseeing a team of 80 staff delivering farm bookkeeping, accounts analysis, and the prestigious Farm Business Survey project for Defra.  She acted as Interim MD at Promar for six months before taking up the Head of Farming role at Strutt & Parker.  Projects she has overseen or contributed to include the Cost of Production milk pricing model for the Tesco Sustainable Dairy Group, the development of a benchmarking portal for Arla Foods, and carbon footprinting of livestock farms.  Key to her delivery on these projects was the engagement of farmer and grower groups to share confidential data, achieved through a mixture of innovative marketing and a focus on building trust and open dialogue with farmers. 

At Strutt & Parker she is looking to build on the extensive practical farming skills within the team to deliver projects within the agrifood supply chain and for landowners and farmers, with a particular interest in real world solutions for business transformation and climate change adaptation.