Latest Face of the Future thinks farmers are winning the PR battle

Farmers are beginning to win the PR battle, believes Terry Jones, the NFU‘s head of London office. A 33-year-old farmer’s son from Abergavenny in Wales, he is the latest Massey Ferguson Face of the Future and is keen that farmers take advantages of new opportunities to get over positive messages to the public.

“I think we’re doing it better but we need to do it differently as well. Things like rolling news and websites mean there are more opportunities to put over a positive message, but we’re up against some very switched-on lobbying organisations.”

Terry Jones is the man in charge of this vital outpost of Britain’s best-known farmer organisation, the NFU, just around the corner from the Houses of Parliament. He and the other five staff have an important role lobbying politicians and representing NFU members at the many stakeholder meetings organised by government departments.

It requires him to have an almost impossibly broad knowledge of farming. “One meeting can be about polytunnels,  the next about gypsies and travellers and then another on bovine TB.” He’s also getting very used to being at the sharp end of a TV camera, including appearing live on Channel 4 news with Jon Snow.

To see the full text of the interview with Terry Jones and the 20 other MF Faces of the Future that have been published in Farmers Weekly since the series began in September 2005, click on the link.

If you think you’d make a good Face of the Future – or you know someone else who fits the bill – get in touch. You need to be under 35, making good headway in farming or a related industry and have definite views about the future of the sector, email david.cousins@rbi.co.uk

Massey Ferguson is also sponsoring the Young Farmer of the Year category in the 2007 Farmers Weekly awards.