The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) has appointed four new Beef & Lamb sector board members to help steer the organisation’s work to create a more competitive beef and lamb supply chain
Conor Colgan, James Shouler and Richard Sparey, all of whom are beef or sheep producers, and Steve Thompson, who works in the processing sector, will take up their positions on 1 April 2018.
Steve is a Business Unit director for ABP and is responsible for the company’s flagship processing facility in Ellesmere, Shropshire. Steve comes from a farming background and has a thorough understanding of the farm-to-fork process following 30 years working in the food and agricultural industries.
Conor Colgan farms pedigree Salers and combinable crops in a family partnership spanning 830 acres in Northumberland. He has pioneered the use of Lean management principles in farming and is installing a LEADER-funded precision beef farming facility for the purposes of breed improvement, grassland management and feeding trials.
James Shouler is a fourth-generation farmer running a 350-acre mixed farm in Oxfordshire. He has a pedigree Simmental herd of 50 cows, which calve in both spring and autumn, and sells pedigree breeding bulls and replacement heifers into commercial farms.
Richard Sparey is a third-generation farmer who farms in partnership with his brother and mother in Herefordshire. He runs lowland and upland flocks of breeding ewes and aims to produce all of his lambs off forage. This year he will be lambing 1,800 ewes and also runs 120 suckler cows, with an emphasis on genetics and EBVs for both sheep and beef.
Speaking about the appointments, Laura Ryan, Sector Strategy Director for AHDB Beef & Lamb, said: “The Beef & Lamb sector board plays a vital role in shaping AHDB’s future activity and ensures that we are delivering against our strategy for the benefit of the industry.
“I am confident that our new board members will provide the industry knowledge and the direction required to drive our work forward.
“Thank you to Andy Foot, Howard Bates, Mark Allen and Paul Westaway, all of whom will be stepping down at the end of this month following the completion of their terms.”
For a full list of the current members of the AHDB Beef & Lamb sector board, visit beefandlamb.ahdb.org.uk/about/our-board/
