NFU Deputy President to speak in Keswick

NFU Deputy President, Meurig Raymond, will be on hand to discuss the implications of a bluetongue vaccination policy, poor lamb prices and the certificate of competence trailer test at a joint meeting between the NFU and Keswick Farmers Discussion Group on Wednesday 27 February.

The meeting will take place at The Braithwaite Institute and Village Hall at Braithewaite in Keswick at 7.45pm chaired by NFU Cumbria County Chairman, Russell Bowman. Everyone is welcome to attend the meeting which is an open forum to talk about the issues that really matter to the farmers in the Keswick area.

Meurig Raymond farms 2,800 acres in Pembrokeshire in partnership with his twin brother. The farm grows 1,600 acres of combinable crops and 120 of acres of potatoes. There are 600 dairy cows, with 300 followers. The farm also has 600 head of beef cattle and around 2,500 store lambs, fattened during winter.

Meurig was elected local branch Chairman of the NFU in 1979 and Pembrokeshire County Chairman in 1989. In 1992 he became the Welsh NFU Treasurer and served as the Pembrokeshire delegate on NFU Council between 1995 and 2004.

He served as Vice-Chairman of the NFU's Cereals Committee between 1999 and 2001 and on the NFU's Agricultural Wages Board for six years from 1998. He was elected as Vice President of the NFU in 2004 and became Deputy President in 2006.

Meurig represented Wales on the Home Grown Cereals Authority between 1997 and 2004 and he served on the council of Food from Britain between 1997 and 2003. He became a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society in 2000 and was awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours in January 2005 for his services to agriculture.