Richard Spencer

NFU Livestock Board member, West Midlands

Richard farms the family farm in partnership with his wife and son, which included dairy farming until 2009 when the herd dispersed. They now have a small area of winter wheat, part of their reseeding rotation, contract farmed.

The farm has over 600 ewes, based on Lleyn put to high index Meatlinc and Charolais, and a small flock of pedigree Shropshires.

Richard is also chair of British Wool Central Region Committee, and is managing director of Sheep Fairs Ltd, a group of enthusiastic volunteers who came together in 2015 to organise a sheep fair on an annual basis in two local market towns to promote all things derived from sheep.

"I am driven by words said to me on the journey to my first regional meeting: 'We must never forget the farmer trying to make a living from 30 suckler cows on the moors.'

"We are here to represent all farmers at all levels of the industry."