Editor’s View: Batters’ baton passes to Bradshaw. What next?
Tom Bradshaw © Tim Scrivener The Batters era is over. The Bradshaw era has begun.
The NFU presidential baton was passed this week at the annual conference, with David Exwood and Rachel Hallos coming in as the new junior officeholders.
Minette Batters’ biggest strength has been her public-facing advocacy.
Her signature achievements are helping to lobby against a no-deal Brexit and being among the leaders of the campaign against a free trade deal with the US.
See more: Bradshaw to head up new NFU top team
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She has not been given the credit she deserves for these, as neither measure helped put an extra pound in the pocket of her critics.
That should not detract from their significance. We are undoubtedly better off by having a reasonable trading relationship with the EU and no hormone beef or chlorine-washed chicken from the US.
The outgoing president’s most difficult task has been the same for many of her predecessors: holding together an organisation of diversity with high expectations, and often competing ambitions, at a time of turmoil.
This reached a peak last autumn with the bad-tempered spat over Red Tractor’s (RT’s) Greener Farms Commitment (GFC), the extent to which the NFU participated in its development, and how to proceed following an extraordinary member backlash.
That is now Tom Bradshaw’s problem.
Among the Essex arable farmer’s first tasks will be to consider how he responds to the report by Campbell Tickell that mostly – but certainly not entirely – exonerates RT’s governance processes.
The report is at pains to not point fingers at any individual or organisation for RT’s failure to communicate why GFC is being developed, at whose behest, and why it is in the interests of farmers.
I doubt that many critics of either NFU or RT will feel as if their concerns have now been dealt with.
This is a particularly acute problem if the rumours are true of a significant number of NFU members departing the organisation over this issue.
So can Mr Bradshaw walk a tightrope by speaking as tough in public about those farmers regard as their opponents while still maintaining an essential dialogue with them in private?
Can he do all this in an election year, when so much is potentially up for grabs as political parties compete with each other for the rural vote?
You may love the NFU. You may hate it. But it is still the biggest advocacy beast in our sector and the role of president still matters to members and non-members alike.
Good luck Mr Bradshaw, you’ll need it.