Fife farmer Allan Bowie has been elected the 61st President of NFU Scotland. Mr Bowie takes over one of the top jobs in Scottish agriculture from Borders farmer Nigel Miller, who steps down having served for four years. Rob Livesey and Andrew McCornick take Vice Presidential spots.
In today’s vote, taken at the Union’s AGM in St Andrews, Allan secured the Presidential spot, against fellow contestants Andrew Moir and Rob Livesey.
Mr Livesey, from the Borders, and Dumfriesshire farmer Andrew McCornick were successfully elected as Vice Presidents of the Union. The unsuccessful Vice Presidential candidates were Andrew Moir from Kincardineshire; Kelvin Pate from the Borders and John Smith from Kintyre.
After the election, NFU Scotland’s new President Allan Bowie commented: “I am very pleased to be elected into the post of President. It will be a huge task to follow Nigel Miller, but also a huge privilege. I appreciate all the support from the council and members, and going forward it is certainly going to remain challenging.
“I look forward to representing members on all sectors and scales. In his final address to council, Nigel eluded to the unfinished business that we have around CAP implementation, land and tenancy reform and new powers for Scotland. The work that Nigel has so ably started, means that I, and the new Vice Presidents, will need to hit the ground running.
“I want to thank sincerely my fellow candidates for their company and the last few weeks of hustings have been a whirlwind. It was a privilege and pleasure to tour the country with them, speaking to members across all our regions. This is one aspect that we’ve always got to concentrate on – continuing to listen and speak to members.
“The challenges won’t go away, and, on behalf of the new Presidential team, I promise we will do all within our power to get the best deal possible for Scottish agriculture in all our commodities and across every region of the country.”
