Ian Rickman, a beef and sheep farmer from Carmarthenshire, has been elected president of the Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) following the union’s council meeting on Friday (June 30).
He takes over from Glyn Roberts, who spent eight years in the role.
Commenting on his election, Rickman said: “I never envisioned being president of the FUW but am truly honoured to be elected into the role.
“I must thank Glyn Roberts for his dedicated service for the past eight years,” he added.
“The boots I have to fill are huge and there can never be enough words to convey our debt and gratitude to Glyn for all he has done.”
Rickman has identified the Sustainable Farming Scheme; the recently voted-on Agriculture (Wales) Bill; funding for agriculture; and the Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) regulations as issues he believes require the full attention of the union.
“Funding for farming in Wales urgently needs clarity,” the newly elected president said.
“At the moment we more or less know what we can expect until 2024 in terms of support for agriculture, but after that you fall off a cliff if you try to do any sort of cashflow or business planning.
“We realistically don’t know the details of how farm support is going to look going forward.
“A lot of my work in the immediate future is going to focus on getting clarity for our members on this,” he said.
Other topics at the forefront of his agenda are bovine tuberculosis (TB), and getting more young members to join the union.
“Succession in the FUW is just as important as it is on a farm,” he said.
FUW president
Rickman began his involvement with FUW in the late-80s / early 90s.
“I remember going to my first branch meeting in Llangadog all those years ago. Carmarthenshire has always been an FUW stronghold and Peter Davies was the county secretary when I joined the union,” he recalled.
“I went to the local branch meetings and then started going to local county executive meetings.
“I became county chairman around 2010 and was also a delegate on the FUW Hill farming committee, serving as committee chairman for a time.”
In 2017 he was elected South Wales regional vice-president and became deputy president in 2019.
Rickman is in a share farming agreement with his business partner Sean Jeffreys; they keep sheep and rear Wagyu calves.
He is married to Helen and they have three boys, Thomas, Sean and Rhys, who have all pursued other careers.
