Adam Quinney appointed AHDB Beef and Lamb chairman

Former NFU vice-president Adam Quinney has been appointed chairman of AHBD Beef and Lamb, filling the gap left when Hertfordshire farmer Stuart Roberts resigned in August.

Mr Quinney, who farms in Worcestershire, is the fourth former NFU officeholder to join the AHDB board in the past 18 months.

He joins former president Sir Peter Kendall, who is now chairman of AHDB, and former vice-presidents Gywn Jones and Paul Temple, who are heading up the dairy and arable sectors respectively.

See also: Read an interview with AHDB chief executive Jane King where she promises farmers the organisation will deliver better value for money

Sir Peter said: “Adam shares my passion and ambition for UK agriculture, his knowledge of the whole industry will be invaluable to us as we look to deliver greater value for levy payers.

Adam Quinney © Tim Scrivener

“Adam’s expertise in the beef and lamb sector is especially important in these volatile markets. I look forward to working with him.”

Mr Quinney farms at Sambourne, near Redditch, Worcestershire and has sheep, suckler cows and a beef finishing unit.

“Adam’s expertise in the beef and lamb sector is especially important in these volatile markets. I look forward to working with him”
Peter Kendall, AHDB

His appointment is for an initial three year term with effect from 23 November 2015.

He will be paid £32,000/year for a minimum of 104 days.

NFU livestock board chairman Charles Sercombe said the union welcomed Mr Quinney’s appointment as he had an immense amount of knowledge and expertise of the sector which he could use to deliver for levy payers.

But he added the NFU livestock board would not be afraid to challenge either him or the sector board if they felt AHDB was not truly representing the interests of beef and lamb levy payers.

“Clearly there will be challenges ahead to ensure we promote red meat at home and abroad to grow our export portfolio while giving producers the tools to improve their returns from the market,” he said.

“It’s important that funds collected from beef and lamb producers are ploughed back into the sectors and not used by Defra to deliver or monitor regulation.

“We will also be looking at the new chairman to help put in place solutions that allow the livestock sectors to use data to improve returns from the supply chain.”

All appointments to the AHDB board are made by Defra and are covered by the commissioner for public appointments’s code of practice.

Mr Roberts stepped down from the post after less than six months in the job, revealing he was frustrated at the way Defra tried to influence how levy payers’ money should be spent.