Cornwall Farmers moves to strengthen board

May 2011

Cornwall Farmers (CF) is strengthening its board with the recruitment of new directors to drive the business forward.

The £70 million business, which has been supplying the agricultural community for the last 90 years and is owned by its 4,200 members, voted at its annual general meeting in March to diversify its board structure following a review.

The new structure will include two existing and two new member directors, two executive directors and a professional external director.

CF chief executive Simon Birch and finance director Andrew Knott have already been appointed to the executive posts. The recruitment of the other new directors is ongoing and will be managed by a professional recruitment consultancy.

CF chairman Peter Thomas, who has been on the board for 18 years and chairman for the last three, has also announced that he is to step down in September.

He will be succeeded by board member Geoffrey Vernon who has extensive corporate governance experience in public and private companies in the UK and overseas. His appointment as chairman has unanimous board approval.

Mr Thomas said: “Following a review of our governance structure members voted in March for a smaller board with a greater mix of skills to take the business forward and build on CF’s position as a leading South West agricultural supplier.

“The board will continue to have majority member control and these changes will strengthen the experience, skills and commercial acumen available. Candidates will have to meet challenging qualifying criteria and for the first time we will have a professional external director to provide an objective view.

“I will be overseeing this process in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition before stepping down from the board in September. This was not an easy decision but after 18 years I feel it is time to hand over the reins and in Geoffrey Vernon we have the right combination of agricultural knowledge, personal leadership and business acumen required to lead CF in the future.”

Mr Thomas said he had written to every CF member to notify them of the board changes this week and give them more details about the recruitment process, including how to apply for one of the member director positions.

CF employs 270 staff and injects more than £30 million a year into the local economy through wages and what it spends with local suppliers.

CF’s agricultural supplies business, under the CF Agriculture banner, supplies more than £45 million of goods and services every year. And it sells £25 million of goods through its 13 CF Country Stores, which is the biggest network in Cornwall and Devon.