NFU Cymru elects new officeholder partnership

NFU Cymru council members have elected a new team to lead the union, with Abi Reader taking up the reins as president and Paul Williams stepping into the deputy president role.

The duo was elected at a meeting of NFU Cymru Council in Cardiff Bay on Tuesday 20 January.

Ms Reader, a third-generation dairy farmer from Glamorgan, was elected unanimously and follows north Wales dairy farmer Aled Jones, is the first female president of the union.

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Farming dairy, sheep and arable at Goldsland Farm in partnership with her parents and uncle just outside Cardiff, she is a passionate advocate for promoting food and farming to the next generation and the wider public.

Speaking to Farmers Weekly in Cardiff, Ms Reader said: “To be able to take up the reins from Aled and pick up where he’s left off – it’s really, exciting.

“I absolutely love this industry, and anything I can do to make it grander and better, let’s do it.”

Challenges ahead

Speaking about the challenges ahead, Ms Reader said the big-ticket item for the union is the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS).

“We started on the first of January. A lot of farmers are very frustrated because they don’t really know what that means and whether they want to go into it,” she said.

With Senedd elections coming up in May and the potential for a new farming minister, the road is not a smooth one, she added.

Ms Reader is a co-founder of the Cows on Tour movement and regularly engages with schoolchildren both on-farm and in classrooms.

A former NFU Cymru Wales Woman Farmer of the Year, she was honoured by the Queen with an MBE in 2019 for her services to agriculture.

She first became involved with NFU Cymru in 2012, taking up a vacancy for the position of NFU Cymru vice county chairman just six months later.

During her time in the union, Ms Reader has served as NFU Cymru Glamorgan county chairman, NFU Cymru dairy board chairman and for the past four years as NFU Cymru deputy president.

New deputy

Supporting Ms Reader, is beef and sheep farmer Paul Williams, who has been an active NFU Cymru member for more than 20 years and has previously served as NFU Cymru Clwyd county chairman.

He was instrumental in the iconic display of 5,500 pairs of wellingtons laid outside the Senedd in 2023 to show the industry’s opposition to the Welsh government’s SFS framework at the time.

“I know the value of being part of NFU Cymru and this is a huge honour.

“I’m looking forward to tackling the challenges ahead, which we will face head-on and together,” he said.