Raised on Craigmore Station in the foothills of the Southern Alps, Forbes trained in Agricultural Economics at Lincoln University, attended the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and gained an MBA from Harvard Business School. After working in the financial industry, Forbes returned to farming in 2005 and went on to establish Craigmore Sustainables with Mark Cox which manages over $1.4 billion of Agricultural assets in NZ as well as the Map of Agriculture. The Map of Agriculture is a global leader in digitising agribusiness systems providing a platform to connect data from behind the farmgate throughout the entire supply chain.

Paul is a first-generation dairy farmer from the USA and a recognised authority on the integration of artificial intelligence in livestock agriculture. A 2024 Nuffield International Farming Scholar and the 2025 USA National Milk Producers Federation Farmer Communicator of the year. As part of his Nuffield studies- Paul travelled to more than 15 countries exploring how emerging technologies are transforming animal agriculture, farm economics and global food systems. From his own robotic dairy operation in Michigan to conversations with AI researchers, agritech founders and policymakers worldwide, Paul bridges the practical and the visionary- connecting the cow barn to the boardroom and technology to stewardship.