The AEA is delighted to announce that Stephen Howarth has joined the team as the new Agricultural Economist. Stephen will be specialising in economic analysis and market intelligence for the farm equipment industry. He will also be providing the secretariat to the Farm Equipment Council and will represent the industry on several external committees and bodies.
Stephen brings with him a wealth of knowledge about agricultural markets, having spent the last 5½ years working in the Market Intelligence division of the AHDB. His specialism has been more recently in the red meat sectors but he has worked closely with colleagues covering both dairy and arable. Stephen has been closely involved in AHDB’s work on the implications of Brexit, including contributing to the organisation’s highly-acclaimed Horizon reports. He joins an already established economics team with Theodora Levanti-Rowe as Economist specialising in Outdoor Power Equipment, Graham Stannard, Statistician and Daniel Fasham, Business Analyst.
Before joining AHDB, Stephen held a number of statistical and socio-economic research roles in the public sector. He worked for the West Midlands Regional Observatory, Adult Learning Inspectorate and started his career as a government statistician. His experience has given him very strong analytical skills and an ability to clearly communicate economic analyses and technical results to a wide range of audiences. Stephen says he has great memories of working as part of a close-knit team in a small organisation, so is looking forward to the opportunity to be part of a similar team at AEA.
Ruth Bailey, CEO of the AEA said: “We are delighted at the AEA that Stephen has decided to join us. He will add great value by bringing specialist knowledge and strength to the Market Information team which we now have in place at the organisation.”
