Poultry farmer becomes NFU Cumbria chairman

Mr Dickinson, who succeeds Robert Craig, of Cairn Head Farm, Armathwaite, farms 230 acres (93 hectares), some of which he rents from Lord Ingelewood.

Free range egg production comprises his biggest enterprise, with 16,000 hens producing1,200 dozen eggs a day for Oakland’s Farm Eggs – a company which supplies eggs to major supermarkets, including Asda and Aldi.

Mr Dickinson also keeps 450 Mule and Texel ewes, 60 store beef cattle and grows 90 acres (36ha) of cereals.

Half of his fat lambs are sold dead weight and the other half to Penrith Auction Mart, while his store cattle are sold at Penrith and Carlisle auction marts. Contract barley crushing on farms in Cumbria and North Lancashire creates another income stream. F

Mr Dickinson, who has been married for 25 years and has one son who works as a poultry adviser for the NFU nationally, said, after his inauguration this week, that his aim as chairman would be to get more young people involved with the NFU. “A lot of articulate and talented people have come through the Young Farmers’ Club and they should be encouraged to bring those attributes to the NFU,” he said.

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