Perthshire farmer Jim McLaren is elected as NFU Scotland president

NFU Scotland’s council has elected three new senior office holders with Jim McLaren as its new president

The elections were made during the union’s annual general meeting in Dunblane where Mr McLaren defeated his rival candidate and former vice president, Bob Howat, by 71 votes to 54.

Replacing outgoing president John Kinnaird, Mr McLaren’s term of office will last two years. He was elected alongside two new vice presidents, Nigel Miller and Stewart Wood. Both vice presidents will serve a term of one year.

New Office Holder Biographies

President Jim McLaren – Aged 39 and married with two sons, two daughters and two stepdaughters, Mr McLaren farms a mixed arable and dairy unit, with 130 Holstein Friesian cows.
His arable unit extends to 400 ha (1000 acres) in Perthshire, growing winter wheat, winter oilseed rape, spring barley and land let out for potatoes. The business is a mix of full tenancy, limited partnership, owner-occupier and contract farming. Mr Mclaren has served on the milk committee since 1999, holding the position of chairman in 2003. He has been vice president since March 2006.

Vice president Nigel Miller – Married with four children, Nigel farms 485ha (1200 acres) in the Borders.  The upland hill farm supports 150 cows and 800 breeding ewes. Aberdeen Angus cross steers are sold through the auction ring with heifers being marketed privately for bulling. The sheep flock is founded on Lairg type Cheviots. A former vet, Mr Miller was previously chairman of the union’s livestock committee.

Vice president Stewart Wood – Married with two sons, Mr Wood runs Garson Farms, as a family partnership. Prior to being elected as vice president, he was chairman of the Orkney and Shetland region of the NFUS. His farm extends to 209 hectares (516 acres) predominantly in grassland serving 170 suckler cows – including a small pedigree Charolais herd – and 200 ewes. About 40 hectares (99 acres) of spring barley are grown each year.