Loyal deputy leads race for NFU leadership
Pembrokeshire farmer Meurig Raymond is seen as the front runner to succeed Peter Kendall as NFU president.
It follows news that Mr Kendall is to step down as union president in February 2014.
Mr Raymond, who farms 1,376ha in partnership with his twin brother Mansel, has served as NFU deputy president since Mr Kendall was elected union leader in 2006.
Regarded as a loyal lieutenant, Mr Raymond chose not to challenge Mr Kendall for the presidency – even when nominated to do so in 2012.
Previously the union’s vice-president from 2004-2006, Mr Raymond has yet to confirm whether he will stand for the presidency next February.
Other possible contenders for the NFU leadership include Warwickshire farmer Adam Quinney, who is the union’s vice-president.
If Mr Raymond is elected, it raises the prospect of English farmers being led by a Welshman for the first time since devolution in 1997.
Born in 1952, Mr Raymond was elected chairman of his local NFU branch in 1979 before being elected Pembrokeshire county chairman in 1989.
In 1992 he became the Welsh NFU Treasurer and served as the Pembrokeshire delegate on NFU Council between 1995 and 2004.
Mr Raymond served as vice-chairman of the NFU’s cereals committee from 1999-2001 and sat on the Agricultural Wages Board for six years from 1998.
Mr Raymond represented Wales on the Home Grown Cereals Authority from 1997-2004 and he served on the Council of Food from Britain from 1997-2003.
Having been made a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society in 2000, Mr Raymond was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours in January 2005 for his services to agriculture.
The family farm grows 890ha of combinable crops and113ha of potatoes.
On the livestock side, there are 620 dairy cows, with 300 followers. The farm also has 600 head of beef cattle and around 2,500 store lambs, fattened during winter.
Mr Raymond is married to Hilary and they have three grown up children. His eldest son Paul is involved in the family farming business.
Daughter Nicola works as a public relations executive in Melbourne, Australia, and youngest son Jonathan is an investment manager in London.