For the last 30 years Martin has combined a career as an academic with farming, importing and consultancy and has, since 2002, run his own specialist economic development consultancy, Collison and Associates Limited. He is also a director of a plant genetics company which markets fruit varieties globally.
He works from the local and regional level to the EU and beyond, now broadly spending a third of his time with industry clients, a third with government and a third with Universities and research centres.
With a focus on economic development, innovation and education, Martin has developed and launched a series of major projects in the agricultural, food and resource management sectors in the last 20 years. He chaired the Fens LEADER group to allocate grants to rural businesses and has raised over £20m for agri-food related projects in the last decade.
Martin supports Greater Lincolnshire LEP as agrifood advisor. He helped government develop the UK Strategy for Agricultural Technologies (2013) and the last Rural White Paper (2001) and has worked for the EU to review EIP Agri (2016) and the EU Agricultural Promotion scheme (2019).
Whilst most of Martin’s work has related to the agri-food supply chain and rural economy, he has also worked on projects in the digital, life sciences, energy, water and education sectors throughout his career. He now leads on engagement for Water Resources East and was on the EU Focus Group on Water and Agriculture in 2015-16.
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