Auchterhouse farmer Caroline Millar has been appointed the new chairwoman of the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC).
Mrs Millar and her husband Ross farm beef, sheep and arable enterprises as well as the Hideaway agritourism business just five miles from Dundee.
She was appointed to the voluntary position at the end of this year’s conference and will lead the OFC’s charitable and industry work as well as delivering the 2018 conference.
She said she wanted to bring her experience in farming, agritourism and supporting other rural businesses through her consultancy business to help shape the focus of the 2018 event.
“UK farming must remember that it doesn’t operate in a silo and must stop being so inwardly looking,” she said.
“The sector has the Brexit challenges to negotiate and needs to think about the opportunity and impact that it has on the country’s wider economy to build a profitable future. It is essential for the industry to demonstrate our value as a critical part of the rural economy.”
Three new council members will join the OFC board until January 2020. They are Matthew Naylor, managing director of Lincolnshire-based Naylor Flowers; Professor Nigel Scollan, director of Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute for Global Food Security and Anna Hill, a member of the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today programme.
