Dr Simon Platten is an Environmental Anthropologist, specialising in the social dynamics and economics of food systems. He has 25 years experience within Higher Education and 14 years experience of social enterprises. He is also a Director of Tamar Grow Local CIC, an adjunct lecturer at Exeter University Business School, and a freelance consultant.

Simon was previously Senior Lecturer and program lead for the BSc undergraduate degree in Regenerative Food and Farming at Schumacher College. This degree program combined practical skills of regenerative growing, livestock management, business planning, soil and plant monitoring and research skills, with a social science-based understanding of the problems we face within a global food system and the solutions we have at hand through regenerative practice.

He continues to be a Director of Tamar Grow Local CIC (TGL) and has project managed the development of the TGL ecosystem of food projects and businesses from 2011 – 2023. During this time, he helped establish over 30 community food projects, businesses, and co-operative ventures designed to be self-supporting but to benefit from the mutual support provided under the TGL umbrella. The resulting network of projects have been shaped to grow resilience and respond to market failures around small-scale food production, and to revitalise local food consumption, production, and employment opportunities.

Flete Field Lab brings together multiple interests such as community action, natural resources management, low tech solutions to environmental challenges, the commons movement and of course fungi. Simon is looking forward to bringing his skillset to Flete Field Lab to help appropriately scale our activity and impact in the years to come.

He is also a keen smallholder and craftsman and very much enjoys growing food, and making things out of metal, leather and wood!