Chris Hartfield

Senior regulatory affairs adviser, NFU Plant Health Unit

Chris Hartfield’s career within the farming industry started in research, where he spent six years working on biocontrol of insect pests. He then spent four years working with farmers to deliver UK Government agri-environment schemes, before joining the National Farmers’ Union in 2004. Most of his NFU career has been spent on horticultural policy, heading-up that team for two years. In 2017 Chris moved to join a new NFU plant health unit as senior regulatory affairs adviser, and also headed-up the NFU’s science and regulatory affairs team for a short while.

His work focusses on the regulatory process and its implications for availability and use of crop protection products, and the relationship with UK regulatory authorities, EU institutions and international regimes. Chris is the NFU policy lead on Brexit implications for pesticides. For the last ten years he’s also led the NFU’s work on bee health and insect pollinators.