Kennedy voted new NFU Scotland chief

As expected, Perthshire hill farmer, Martin Kennedy was yesterday confirmed as the new president of NFU Scotland, taking over from Dumfriesshire producer Andrew McCornick who had completed his four-year stint.

In a hotly contested competition for the two vice presidents posts, it was Midlothian pig farmer, Robin Traquair and Aberdeenshire farm trade businessman, Andrew Connon who won through.

After a period managing a pig and beef herd in Switzerland, Traquair returned to his family farm in Midlothian, taking on the management in his mid-twenties, where he currentlyl farms with his wife Anna.

He runs 350 indoor sows taking stock from farrow to finish, and selling the progeny through Scotlean, a farmer-based co-op of which he is a director. The first in the country to import a high health commercial and nucleus herd of Danbred sows, Traquair currently sits on the UK Pig Disease Eradication Fund Board. He was, until being elected vice president, chairman of NFU Scotland’s Lothian and Borders region.Connon, who served as North-east region chair, has wide experience in the agricultural trade sector, having worked as a trainee farm manager for Velcourt in England and his native Aberdeenshire.

He then embarked on a commercial career in agricultural finance with NWS Bank and then JCB Finance. In 1999 he joined the family-owned machinery business of A M Phillip initially as a Branch Manager before becoming a Director and latterly Dealer Principal until the business was sold in 2018.

The past 2 years, Andrew has been working with Hectare Agritech Ltd which runs the online marketplaces SellMyLivestock and Graindex.