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 which administers the Red Tractor food quality mark. The NFU elected its first female president,

Minette Batters Minette Bridget Batters (née Hill, 1967) is a British farmer who is the President of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales. Career Batters is a tenant farmer of a 300-acre mixed farm near Downton in Wiltshire. As well as the farm ...

, 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 ...

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 peopl ...

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, Région 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 union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

. 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-Avo ...

. 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 ...

Arms

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