Ali Capper previously served as Vice-Chair on the Board, a role that will now be taken on previous Chair Guy Poskitt.
“I am delighted to have been elected to serve as Chairman of the Horticulture & Potatoes Board and am very pleased that Guy Poskitt, our previous Chairman has been elected to work alongside me as Vice Chairman. We have worked together as a team, very successfully for the last year in the reverse roles,” said Ms Capper.
“The Board is in great shape with an excellent team of Board Members who provide direction on all the issues we face and deliver a real passion and commitment to their NFU work. As a result I am taking on the Chairmanship at a time when the Board has a clear strategy and vision for its work, thanks to Guy’s great leadership and thanks to the skill of all the Board members.
“That said there is lots to do. The key priority for the next two years are to focus on facilitating growth in business profitability for all our members. There are two strands to this work: 1. Continued emphasis on the supply chain, seeking further support from retail for the NFU’s Fruit & Veg Pledge and 2. Increasing the Consumption of fruit & veg. And then of course there are our policy priorities. These number over 25 in total but the top three today are the work on National Living Wage and employment issues, Plant Protection Products and ensuring members have future access to Water for their businesses.
“For those that do not know me, I farm in partnership with my husband, Richard and father-in-law, Mark on the border of Herefordshire and Worcestershire – we farm hops for the brewing industry and also apples for supermarket sale and for the cider makers. At home I contribute to the farm’s Finance & Business Planning; HR; IT; and Sales & Marketing. We have two children Paddy and Serena, aged 13 and 9.”