Leadership challenge lies ahead
Leadership challenge lies ahead
ONE of the first tasks facing the Scottish NFUs new leadership team is to develop future strategies for all sectors of the industry.
"We simply cannot afford to fail," said president Jim Walker, who was re-elected unopposed for a further two-year term in charge of the union.
In the three-way race for the two posts of vice president, John Kinnaird and Peter Stewart were elected, with Sutherland producer Malcolm Morrison the unsuccessful candidate.
Mr Stewart has already held the post of vice president for the past year, but Mr Kinnaird, a cereal and livestock farmer from East Lothian, joins the top table for the first time.
Peter Chapman, who had been a vice president for two years, did not stand for re-election.
Mr Walker said that, even if government came forward with a short-term aid package, it alone would not save the industry. And, amid some calls for direct action, he said: "Package or no package, direct action or not – at the end of the day, we still have to find solutions for our industry. No one else is going to do it for us."
He said he and his vice presidents, along with senior Scottish NFU officials, would sit down in the coming fortnight and spend "as long as it takes" to formulate longer term strategy proposals to secure the future of each sector of Scotlands agriculture.
But, Mr Walker warned: "We can talk about strategies all we like, but unless we all put them into action then we might as well not even bother trying. Let me repeat, no-one else is going to do this for us."
SNFU president Jim Walker is set for the challenges ahead.