The National Farmers' Union (NFU) is a member organisation/industry association for farmers in England and Wales. It is the largest farmers' organisation in the countries, and has over 300 branch offices.
History
On 10 December 1908, a meeting was held in an ante-room at the
Smithfield Show
The Smithfield Show, formerly the Smithfield Club Cattle Show and later the Royal Smithfield Show, was an annual British agricultural show, organised by the Royal Smithfield Club. It was founded in 1799 and was first held at Wootton's Livery S ...
to discuss whether a national organisation should be formed to represent the interests of farmers. The outcome was the National Farmers' Union (NFU).
The first President, Colin Campbell, worked to get new branches off the ground, encourage membership and establish the NFU's credibility with Government, at a time when farming was going through the longest and deepest depression in its history, as imports of cheap grain and frozen meat flooded in from abroad.
At the
1918 general election, the union ran six candidates, none of whom were elected. In 1922, it sponsored three unsuccessful candidates under its own name, and four successful
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
candidates. It again sponsored Conservative candidates in 1923 and 1935, but has not done so since.
The NFU is registered as an
association of employers under the 1974
Trade Union and Labour Relations Act. In 2000 it founded
Assured Food Standards
Assured Food Standards is a United Kingdom company which licenses the Red Tractor quality mark, a product certification programme that comprises a number of farm assurance schemes for food products, animal feed and fertilizer. The scheme is subje ...
which administers the Red Tractor food quality mark.
The NFU elected its first female president,
Minette Batters, in 2018.
Election results
1918 general election
Barnard was also sponsored by the
National Party.
1922 general election
Blundell, Bruford, Lamb and Shepperson stood for the Conservative Party.
1923 general election
All candidates stood for the Conservative Party.
1924 general election
Both candidates stood for the Conservative Party.
1935 general election
Two candidates were sponsored and elected for the Conservative Party.
Function
The NFU proclaim themselves as 'The Voice of British Farming', the NFU states that it "champions British farming and provides professional representation and services to its Farmer and Grower members."
It negotiates with the government and national organisations on behalf of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
member farmers.
Structure
The NFU is governed by its Constitution and Rules. Under the Constitution and Rules the NFU shall maintain a number of bodies, which are responsible for the Governance of the NFU. These include NFU Council, Governance Board, Policy Board, National Commodity Boards, Regional Commodity Boards, an Audit and Remuneration Committee and Legal Board and Regional Boards.
The NFU has an office in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, RĂ©gion de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
, Belgium to represent the interests of British farmers to the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
.
The NFU is closely associated with the insurance mutual company
NFU Mutual
NFU Mutual (NFUM) is a UK insurance composite, its directors and executives are directly answerable to customers/ policyholders (who own the business) for conduct of business as NFUM is and mutual and so has no shareholders to hold it to ac ...
, which is also based in
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
.
NFU Cymru is based at the Royal Welsh Showground in
Builth Wells
Builth Wells (; cy, Llanfair-ym-Muallt) is a market town and community in the county of Powys and historic county of Brecknockshire (Breconshire), mid Wales, lying at the confluence of rivers Wye and Irfon, in the Welsh (or upper) part of ...
.
Archives
The archives of the NFU are deposited with the Rural History Centre at
Reading University
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
.
[Chris Cook, ''The Routledge Guide to British Political Archives: Sources Since 1945'' (Routledge: 2006), p. 345.]
Arms
See also
*
National Farmers' Union of Scotland
The National Farmers' Union of Scotland is an organisation that promotes and protects the interests of the country's farming industry. It was formed in 1913, and has approximately 10,000 members who are farmers, crofters and others involved in Sc ...
*
Farmers' Union of Wales
The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) ( cy, Undeb Amaethwyr Cymru (UAC)), a member organisation, was formed in 1955 to protect and advance the interests of those who derive an income from Welsh agriculture.
Established in 1955, the FUW is the only ...
*
Ulster Farmers Union
The Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) is a member organisation/industry association for farmers in Northern Ireland. The UFU was formed in 1918 and currently claims over 12,500 members.
Presidency
Previous Presidents of the UFU included Sir Basil Broo ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Agricultural organisations based in England
Business organisations based in England
Organisations based in Warwickshire
Organizations established in 1908
Farmers' organizations
1908 establishments in England
Agricultural organisations based in Wales