About Helen Keys

Helen Keys is a farmer, innovator, disruptor and entrepreneur. Alongside her husband Charlie, and sister Clare, Helen runs Mallon Linen, growing flax in Tyrone and reviving Ireland’s heritage linen industry through a regenerative lens. Helen also works as Entrepreneur in Residence at Queen’s University Belfast, where she supports innovation in agri-food and sustainability, supporting hundreds of successful Northern Irish start ups.  She also established Source Grow, a way to connect chefs with local growers. Helen has also worked with the Water Innovation Network to design new Nature Based Solutions for agricultural pollution

Through her work with the Growing Innovation Network (GrowIN), Helen has helped develop market focused horticulture enterprises, such as The Veg Collective, worked on alternative land uses and established the annual Innovation Competition at CAFRE.

Helen was awarded an MBE for Services to Innovation and Entrepreneurship in 2024. She plays a leading role in the revival of the fibre sector in Ireland, championing local, regenerative supply chains from seed to cloth.

At Fields Good, Helen brings her no-nonsense approach to entrepreneurship in the “Innovation and Impact” talk. She will offer practical tools and sharp thinking to help you take your farm based ideas from “maybe someday” list, to something real, income-generating and purpose-driven.