Derek Mead delivers parting shot at 'failing' NFU leaders

Mr Mead, council member for Somerset, has been a staunch critic of NFU president Peter Kendall, and stood against him in this year’s leadership elections.

In a letter to Mr Kendall, he said the union had not been robust enough in its support for British dairy farmers and had not stood up to processors and retailers in demanding a price rise.

He also slammed the Union’s leadership, accusing them of being sycophantic when it came to dealing with Government and called on them to stand up for British farmers against politicians.

He said: “During my seven year membership of Council I have tried to persuade the NFU that it, too, should be taking a more robust attitude towards retailers and food processors, rather than declaring them to be its ‘partners’ in the food chain.

“From personal observation the only reward this attitude has brought has for it to be repeatedly stabbed in the back by the other members of the partnership.

“We have not, as a union, become more businesslike. We have not adopted a more strident voice. We have not been sufficiently critical of Defra’s appalling performance since its inception. We are certainly not regarded by the public as the voice of British farming.”

Mr Mead, who has been on the NFU’s Council for seven years, said the last straw came with the offer of a non-executive directorship with Dairy Crest to Richard Macdonald, the union’s former director-general.

“I no longer wish to be associated with an organisation which now, it seems, exists merely as a stepping-stone for officials and office-holders into well-paid directorships, rather than as a campaigning force to secure a better deal for British farmers,” he told Mr Kendall.

Mr Mead runs a large organic farm near Weston Super Mare and is part of the farming family which owns Yeo Valley as well as having his own business in property developing.

He was one of the founding members of Farmers For Action, which has recently mobilised against the supermarkets once again in protest at the current poor milk prices.

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