Caretaker group to look at the way forward for NBA

After a stormy annual meeting where all 12 farmer members of the board of the National Beef Association stood down from office, a caretaker management panel was put in place to try and find a way forward for the troubled organisation.

The Hexham meeting was always going to be a rowdy and controversial affair after two motions had been received calling for the removal from office of treasurer, James Fanshawe.

However, after the existing board members made it plain they were going to demit office, a small team under the chairmanship of Hamish McBean, of Score Farm, Glenferness, Nairn, was nominated to look at the future of the NBA.

He said: “There has been too much bickering in the past and we need to find a better structure for the future … the last thing I want is for the NBA to fail.”

He said that during the next four months the interim panel would look at such issues as their constitution and regional structures. Proposals for changes will then be put out to the membership for consultation.

In Scotland there is another beef sector lobbying organisation, the Scottish Beef Cattle Association, and McBean said he would be trying to work jointly with the SBCA, adding: “Many of our interests are common.”

The NBA represents some 80 per cent of the producers in the UK and it also has more than 100 corporate members from allied organisations.