Sarah joins NFU Scotland HQ

Scotland’s leading lobbying body has bolstered its policy team with the appointment of a new political and environmental specialist.

Sarah Cowie has been appointed to NFU Scotland’s Edinburgh-based head office team to lead on the increasingly important fronts of environmental issues - including water and air quality, pesticides, biodiversity, farm plastics and flooding.

Cowie graduated from University of Edinburgh with a MA (Hons) in International Relations. She joins NFU Scotland from Newsdirect, an independent political monitoring company, where she was deputy head of monitoring.

Gemma Cooper, head of policy at NFU Scotland said that with an extensive experience of producing bespoke policy briefings for a diverse portfolio of environmental and agricultural organisations as well as interpreting complex, and highly technical government and parliamentary publications, Cowie was well qualified for the role:

“With a wealth of knowledge in the political and policy sphere Sarah will lobby on behalf of members on important issues such as environmental regulation and biodiversity - key policy areas that link to climate change.

“Her existing skillset will complement the wealth of knowledge that our team at NFU Scotland has and I know that she is well placed to advocate strongly on behalf of Scottish farming businesses.”

*The union has also announced the appointment of Fiona Forrest-Anderson as the new independent chair of its remuneration committee which advises the board of directors how best to recruit, retain and reward quality staff.

Currently head of employer engagement at Napier University, Forrest-Anderson has been recognised for her specialist skills in inclusion, organisational change, diversity and gender equality.