New chair for cereals levy board

MINISTERS HAVE named John Page as the new chairman of the Home-Grown Cereals Authority (HGCA).

He takes up the £25,203-a-year, one-and-a-half days per week post from June 3 for three years.

Mr Page is a former director general of the British Agrochemicals Association (now the Crop Protection Association), and was agricultural director of Barclays Bank until 2000.

Junior DEFRA minister Lord Whitty said: “I am confident that, with his broad experience, John Page will build on the excellent work carried out by Antony Pike.

“The HGCA plays an important role supporting our cereals and oilseeds industries and I wish John every success.”

The HGCA is an executive non-departmental public body set up under the Cereals Marketing Act 1965 and is funded almost entirely by statutory levies.

Levy income in 2002/03 was around £10million.