Three new sector chairmen have been appointed to the Red Tractor Assurance scheme. Andrew Lewins is the chairman for poultry. Warwickshire farmer Angela Rhodes has taken over the role of dairy sector board chairman. Cumbrian livestock farmer Alistair Mackintosh steps into the beef and lamb role.
All three will play a crucial role in steering policy, highlighting opportunities and threats in their sector, affecting change in farm standards and reacting to evolving consumer demands.
Key responsibilities include leading their sector board and representing it at board meetings of Assured Food Standards—the company that operates the Red Tractor scheme.
Poultry chairman
Lewins has worked in the poultry industry for 38 years in a career spanning finance, planning, agriculture, sales and marketing and general management. He was managing director of Grampian Country Food Group’s Poultry business before co-founding Cranberry Foods in 2003 and sold the business in 2012. He sits on the management board of the British Poultry Council.
He said, “I’ve been lucky enough to have a very long career in the poultry industry and now have the time and the energy to give something back.
“I’ve always been passionate about farm assurance and was the inaugural chairman of the Red Tractor Assurance poultry technical advisory committee, which wrote the standards back in 1999.
“I believe that Red Tractor poultry standards are already world leading. As a practical agriculturalist, I feel I can help hit that balance between the highest standards and practical implementation on farms.”
Dairy chairman
Rhodes is part of a dairy farming family and helps run a 320-cow autumn calving herd with her husband in Warwickshire. She is a member of Arla’s UK Board of Representatives and its Joint National Council. Rhodes was involved in the introduction of the global Arlagården Farm Assurance scheme in the UK.
Beef, lamb chairman
Mackintosh runs a flock of 1,500 breeding ewes and a herd of 100 beef sucklers in Ravenglass, Cumbria, across 650 rented acres.
