Dairy farmer from Carmarthenshire elected new Milk Board Chairman

Gareth Richards, the new Milk Board Chairman for NFU Cymru
Gareth Richards, the new Milk Board Chairman for NFU Cymru

A dairy farmer from Carmarthenshire has been elected as a farming union's new Milk Board Chairman.

Gareth Richards, who has been appointed the role at NFU Cymru, farms at Alltyfyrddin, in Abergwili, Carmarthenshire. The farm comprises of 100 Holstein cows with 120 Jacob sheep.

Along with the bed and breakfast business, Mr Richards and his wife Sharon, also run Merlin’s Centre and Open Farm where they welcome local schools and holiday makers to learn about the history of Merlin’s Hill and the local heritage. The open farm also allows children to gain first-hand experience of farm life.

He is currently Club Leader and President elect of his local YFC, St Peters in Carmarthenshire and is also a Board Adviser at Coleg Sir Gâr.

On his appointment, Mr Richards said: “The board’s priorities looking forward are to ensure we obtain a favourable outcome post-Brexit to enable dairy farmers to have a prosperous future.

“I believe there will be more opportunities to replace imports that are coming in at the moment and to export more Welsh produce to other parts of the world. This in turn could lead to more farmers getting together to form Dairy Producer Organisations (DPOs) in order to work closer with the processor.

“I would like to thank Aled Jones, the retiring Chairman, who has done a tremendous amount of work during the past five years on behalf of all our dairy members, especially during a period of significant instability. He has lobbied at the highest level to ensure farmers’ views are heard by influential policy makers and I look forward to his continued support on the board.

Mr Richards added: “This is an exciting and challenging time for me to take over as Chairman with the UK set to leave the EU and I will strive to ensure the voice of Welsh farmers is heard not only in Wales and the UK but wherever decisions are being taken that will impact on Welsh dairy farmers.”

Abi Reader from Glamorgan was elected as Vice-Chair of the Milk Board for the next two years.