The National Farmers Union has restructured to bring members closer to advisors.
A new county advisor, Nerys Wright, has been appointed with responsibility for Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.
Nerys Wright said: “Feedback from members showed they felt detached from the large South East region and wanted to see more dedication to their county.”
As a result the NFU has now invested £500,000 in regional activity with 30 new posts created across the country – the South East region having four county advisors.
Mrs Wright is based in Milton Common near Thame and has regular contact with Aylesbury NFU branch secretaries Virginia Stollery and Simon Parker. She had a meeting with them yesterday (Tuesday) to discuss the effects of HS2 on farmers, and recently hosted a meeting in Winslow about the move to annual testing for bovine TB.
“It was the first meeting I’ve put on as a county advisor and it was very well attended, with 95 farmers, so I was very pleased with the turnout,” she said.
Mrs Wright hopes to raise the profile of the NFU and to encourage new people to join.
She will be attending agricultural shows, ploughing matches and branch meetings as well as organising issue-led meetings. She is also keen to interact with the Young Farmer movement, saying it is important to engage with the next generation, and stressed it is not necessary to be born on a farm to go into farming.