Dingwall farmer in running for NFU Scotland president role
A PRESIDENTIAL candidate will be making a pitch for votes close to his Dingwall home in the new year.
NFU Scotland’s current vice-presidents, Andrew Connon and Alasdair Macnab, will contest the top job at the Union’s AGM in Glasgow on February 7.
Former Dingwall Academy pupil Alasdair Macnab farms at Kildun, Dingwall with his wife Gill, running the well-known Alagils pedigree Limousin herd, growing malting barley and hay.
He worked in a vet practice in Ross-shire for 11 years then joined the government vet service in Inverness. He now farms and runs a consultancy advising farmers in legal disputes.
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The position of president will be voted on by the Union’s Council, and the successful candidate will be elected to the post for a two-year term. They will succeed Martin Kennedy who has held office for four years, the maximum term allowed under the Union’s constitution.
NFU Scotland members are invited to attend regional hustings events to hear from and quiz each candidate.
This includes one on Monday, January 13 at Dingwall Mart at 7pm. This is familiar territory for Macnab who started his farming career on his late uncle’s dairy farm at Humberston, Dingwall (now Dingwall Auction Mart) working with dairy, sheep and cereals.
Mr Macnab was a crofter breeding cattle and sheep near Strathpeffer for over ten years before buying Kildun from his mother in 2005. On Kildun, the Macnabs have developed some high value nature sites to integrate into the farm system and are currently working on a nature restoration project for salmon and trout.
Mr Macnab has built several houses, runs a timber reclamation and flooring business, is a past RHET Highland chair and is currently a trustee at the Ross County Foundation, a community charity linked to Ross County Football Club where he is also a season ticket holder.
He has been a member of NFU Scotland for over thirty years. On leaving government service, he took on the role of vice-chair for Black Isle and Mid Ross Branch in 2016, becoming Chair in 2017 and representing Highland Region on the Legal & Technical Committee. He took on Legal and Technical Committee Chair in February 2022 and was elected NFU Scotland vice-president in February 2023.
In the role of vice-president, he has had oversight of most of the commodity committees and now leads on the Climate Land and Business policy areas. This includes the committees for Next Generation, Less Favoured Areas, Environment and Land Use, Legal and Technical. and Crofting, Highlands and Islands.
Andrew Connon farms in partnership near Ellon in Aberdeenshire on 370 acres where the main enterprises involve finishing cattle, breeding and finishing sheep, and spring barley. He is married to, and ably assisted by, Pauline, whilst son Andrew and daughter Sarah in addition to helping at home, work on neighbouring farms.
After graduating from Aberdeen University with an Honour’s degree in General Agriculture, he joined Velcourt as a trainee farm manager in South East England before returning to a farm management position in Aberdeenshire.
He then embarked on a commercial career in agricultural finance with NWS Bank and then JCB Finance. In 1999 he joined the family-owned machinery business of A M Phillip initially as a branch manager before becoming a director and then dealer principal until the business was sold in 2018. He then worked with the Online Market Places – SellMyLivestock and Graindex for four years. Currently he does some landowner engagement work for a local company.
He is a long-standing member of NFU Scotland New Deer Branch and a former branch chair. He represented the North East Regional Board for several years, elected vice-chair (2017) and chair (2020).
In February 2021, he was elected NFU Scotland vice-president. He was re-elected in February 2023 and was unchallenged in February 2024.
He currently sits on the Food and Farming Team Committees: Livestock, Milk, Pigs, Poultry, Combinable Crops, Potatoes, and Horticulture. He has also sat on the Finance Committee since elected in February 2021.
Three nominations for the two vice-presidential posts have been received. Vice-presidents will also be elected by the council for an initial two-year period before being eligible for re-election on an annual basis thereafter. The candidates are:Michael Davis, Duncan Macalister and Robert Neill.
