National Farmers' Union of England and Wales
Abbreviation | NFU |
---|---|
Founded | 1908 |
Type | Employer association |
Headquarters | Agriculture House, Stoneleigh Park, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, England, CV8 2TZ |
Location | |
Members | 45,000 farming and growing businesses[1] |
President | Tom Bradshaw |
Deputy President | David Exwood |
Vice President | Rachel Hallos |
Director General | Terry Jones |
Affiliations | NFU Mutual Insurance Sister organisations: |
Website | Official website |
The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is an employer association and trade association for farming and growing businesses within England and Wales.[2]
History[edit]
On 10 December 1908, a meeting was held in an ante-room at the Smithfield Show to discuss whether a national organisation should be formed to represent the interests of farmers. The meeting resulted in the formation of the National Farmers' Union.[3]
The first President, Colin Campbell, worked to get new branches off the ground, encourage membership and establish the NFU's credibility with Government, at a time when farming was going through the longest and deepest depression in its history, as imports of cheap grain and frozen meat flooded in from abroad.[3]
At the 1918 general election, the association ran six candidates, none of whom were elected. In 1922, it sponsored three unsuccessful candidates under its own name, and four successful Conservative Party candidates. It again sponsored Conservative candidates in 1923 and 1935, but has not done so since.[4]
In 1972, the NFU, alongside other farming employers' associations, set up the British Agriculture Bureau to represent their interests in the European Economic Community and later the European Union.[5][6]
In 2000, with the National Farmers' Union of Scotland, Ulster Farmers' Union, and other farming and food organisations, the NFU founded the Assured Food Standards company which administers the Red Tractor food quality mark.[7][8]
In 2013, during the so-called "bonfire of the quangos" by the Cameron–Clegg government, the NFU lobbied in support of the abolishment of the Agricultural Wages Board,[9][10] the governmental body which had been responsible for regulating farm workers' wages.[11] In the same year, the NFU campaigned against the imposition of any cap on subsidies that farmers could receive.[9][12]
In 2016, the Ethical Consumer Research Association published a report Understanding the NFU – an English Agribusiness Lobby Group, describing the NFU as promoting policies that benefit big agribusinesses at the expense of farm workers pay and conditions, the environment, and animal welfare.[13]
During the Brexit Referendum, the NFU Council voted overwhelmingly to endorse the Remain campaign, but did not actively campaign on the issue.[14][15] In the lead-up to the referendum, the NFU commissioned a report by Wageningen University which found that two of three Brexit scenarios could increase farm-gate prices.[15]
The NFU elected its first female president, Minette Batters, in 2018.[16]
Structure[edit]
The NFU is registered as an employer association with the Certification Office for Trade Unions and Employers' Associations.[6]
The NFU is governed by its Constitution and Rules. Under the Constitution and Rules the NFU shall maintain a number of bodies, which are responsible for the Governance of the NFU. These include NFU Council, Governance Board, Policy Board, National Commodity Boards, Regional Commodity Boards, an Audit and Remuneration Committee and Legal Board and Regional Boards.[17]
The NFU is closely associated with the insurance company NFU Mutual, which is also based in Warwickshire.
NFU Cymru is based at the Royal Welsh Showground in Builth Wells.
British Agriculture Bureau[edit]
The British Agriculture Bureau (BAB) is the joint office of the NFU, the National Farmers' Union of Scotland and Ulster Farmers' Union in Brussels. The BAB lobbies for, and collects information on behalf of, the British farming industry in regards to European Union policy.[5][6][18]
Election results[edit]
Constituency | Candidate | Votes | % | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|
Barnard Castle | Octavius Monkhouse | 1,274 | 10.0 | 4 |
East Norfolk | William Benjamin Taylor | 1,926 | 12.3 | 3 |
Hertford | Edmund Broughton Barnard | 7,158 | 38.8 | 2 |
Leominster | Ernest Wilfred Langford | 2,870 | 17.4 | 3 |
Ormskirk | Stephen Hirst | 4,989 | 28.3 | 3 |
Richmond (Yorkshire) | William Parlour | 4,907 | 33.2 | 2 |
Barnard was also sponsored by the National Party.
Constituency | Candidate | Votes | % | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|
Carmarthen | Daniel Johns | 4,775 | 15.9 | 3 |
Howdenshire | H. J. Winn | 7,021 | 39.5 | 2 |
Leominster | Ernest Shepperson | 10,798 | 53.1 | 1 |
Ormskirk | Francis Blundell | 11,921 | 58.7 | 1 |
Rutland and Stamford | E. Clark | 4,471 | 20.3 | 3 |
Stone | Joseph Lamb | 7,742 | 38.3 | 1 |
Wells | Robert Bruford | 10,210 | 47.7 | 1 |
Blundell, Bruford, Lamb and Shepperson stood for the Conservative Party.
Constituency | Candidate | Votes | % | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|
Leominster | Ernest Shepperson | 11,582 | 57.3 | 1 |
Ormskirk | Francis Blundell | 10,598 | 53.0 | 1 |
Stone | Joseph Lamb | 10,001 | 50.8 | 1 |
Wells | Robert Bruford | 9,909 | 44.2 | 2 |
All candidates stood for the Conservative Party.
Constituency | Candidate | Votes | % | Position |
---|---|---|---|---|
Leominster | Ernest Shepperson | 13,237 | 52.5 | 1 |
Stone | Joseph Lamb | 12,856 | 57.3 | 1 |
Both candidates stood for the Conservative Party.
in the 1935 general election, two candidates were sponsored and elected for the Conservative Party.[who?][citation needed]
Archives[edit]
The archives of the NFU are deposited with the Rural History Centre at Reading University.[19]
Arms[edit]
|
See also[edit]
- National Farmers' Union of Scotland
- Agriculture in the United Kingdom
- Farmers' Union of Wales
- Ulster Farmers Union
References[edit]
- ^ "Find out about the NFU". www.nfuonline.com. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ Newby, Howard (1987). Country life: a social history of rural England. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-79063-1.
- ^ a b "The history of the NFU". www.nfuonline.com. Retrieved 1 July 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Craig, F. W. S. (1975). Minor Parties in British By-elections, 1885–1974. London: Macmillan Press. p. 56.
- ^ a b "About us". www.britishagriculturebureau.co.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
- ^ a b c Harrison, Rob; Berry, Hannah; Strange, Ruth (2016). "Understanding the NFU - an English Agribusiness Lobby-group" (PDF). www.ethicalconsumer.org. Ethical Consumer Research Association. p. 101.
- ^ Harrison, Rob; Berry, Hannah; Strange, Ruth (2016). "Understanding the NFU - an English Agribusiness Lobby-group" (PDF). www.ethicalconsumer.org. Ethical Consumer Research Association. p. 73.
- ^ "Who We Are: The Red Tractor Team". Red Tractor Assurance. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
- ^ a b Monbiot, George (8 July 2013). "The National Farmers' Union secures so much public cash yet gives nothing back". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ "MPs urged to continue support on AWB abolition". www.nfuonline.com. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ "Labour calls for Aricultural Wages Board not to be abolished". BBC News. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
- ^ "Grain sampling at harvest – getting it right". www.nfuonline.com. 17 November 2022. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Harrison, Rob; Berry, Hannah; Strange, Ruth (2016). "Understanding the NFU - an English Agribusiness Lobby-group" (PDF). www.ethicalconsumer.org. Ethical Consumer Research Association.
- ^ "EU referendum: National Farmers' Union backs staying in EU". BBC News. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
- ^ a b Association, Press (18 April 2016). "British farmers best served by UK staying in EU, says NFU". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
- ^ "NFU elects first female president". BBC News. 21 February 2018. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
- ^ "NFU Democratic Structure". NFUonline. NFU. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
- ^ "Celebrating 50 Years of The British Agriculture Bureau". www.nfus.org.uk. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
- ^ Chris Cook, The Routledge Guide to British Political Archives: Sources Since 1945 (Routledge: 2006), p. 345.
- ^ "National Farmers' Union". Heraldry of the World. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
Further reading[edit]
- Cox, Graham; Lowe, Philip; Michael, Winter (1 January 1991). "The Origins and Early Development of the National Farmers' Union" (PDF). Agricultural History Review. 39: 30–47 – via British Agricultural History Society.
- Newby, Howard (1987). Country life: a social history of rural England. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 978-0-297-79063-1.