Angus seed potato grower Andrew Skea has been appointed to the board of the levy organisation, AHDB Potatoes.
Mr Skea has been selling ware and seed potatoes to customers across Europe for more than a decade, from his organic family farm at Auchterhouse, Dundee.
Skea Organics supplies a wide range of new, specialist, and heritage potato varieties and Mr Skea is chair of the Pre Basic Growers Association and a past president of the British Potato Trade Association. In addition to seed potatoes, the family farm produces organic cattle, sheep, cereals and vegetables.
He said: “Skea Organics has customers across Europe and as such we have a keen interest in how the market develops post-Brexit. AHDB has produced excellent ‘horizon’ reports on how Brexit may affect the industry, and I am looking forward to working with my fellow board members on this subject.”
The new chair of the board is Sophie Churchill, a forestry expert who is currently president of the Royal Forestry Society and was previously chief executive of the National Forest Company between 2006 and 2014.
AHDB chairman and former NFU England and Wales president, Peter Kendall, welcomed Ms Churchill’s appointment.
He said she joined the organisation at a time when AHDB was implementing a fresh strategy to “inspire the food and farming industry to respond to the challenges of Brexit and changing domestic and international markets”.
The other new members are Daniel Metheringham from North Yorkshire, Jonathan Papworth and Will Shakeshaft both from Cambridgeshire, and Michael Welham from Essex.
Rob Clayton, Strategy Director for AHDB Potatoes said: “The new board members provide AHDB Potatoes with a link to industry. This is as crucial as ever; in what is a rapidly changing marketplace due to the uncertainty created by Brexit.
“The incoming individuals, particularly when combined with the existing board representatives, give AHDB the benefit of experience and new perspectives from across the sector as well as good geographical coverage from around the levy paying area. Our board is a vital part of delivering our strategy and I am looking forward to working with our new members.”
AHDB will pay Ms Churchill a salary of £32,000 for the role, based on a minimum time commitment of 104 days.
nnicolson@thecourier.co.uk
