The British Crop Protection Council (BCPC) has appointed farmer Tony Pexton OBE to its board of trustees.
Pexton is a Yorkshire farmer who grows vining peas among other crops. He is also chairman of the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB) and was chairman of the Sustainable Arable Link Research and Development Programme Management Committee for DEFRA, until the LINK programme was terminated earlier this year.
Pexton said: “Having practical farming experience, as well as involvement in a range of industry organisations, means I have a knowledge and understanding of UK agriculture and the challenges it faces. In particular my work with the NFU and now NIAB will help me provide informed opinion on current farming issues which I believe will be of value and benefit to BCPC.”
Pexton was elected to the NFU Council in 1981 and went on to serve as chairman of the National Cereal Committee from 1987 to 1992 and as vice-president and deputy president between 1992 and 2000.
He has also served on the council of the Oxford Farming Conference, acting as chairman in 2002, and as abBoard member of Assured Food Standards and chairman of the Assured Combinable Crops Scheme. Between 2002 and 2004 he was president of the Guild of Agricultural Journalists and appointed chairman of the Farmers Club in 2007.
In January he was appointed chair of the Yorkshire and Humberside Rural Affairs Forum. In 2005, he was awarded the OBE for services to agriculture.
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