For those of you that don't know I will be leaving on 7 August after 10 years.
I started in the bovine TB team, then moved to the HQ livestock team and before coming home to work with farmers in my home counties of Sussex and Surrey.
In the past three years I've got to know many of you well, working on the mass lobby to stop the family farm tax, at multiple AGMs (the trifles at Redhill are exceptional) and dealing with day-to-day member queries.
Part of why the job has been so enjoyable is due to the dedicated officeholders we have in Surrey. I'd like to thank Jim, Peter, Andrew, Paula, Hugh and more for all their support and dedication over the years. It's been an absolute pleasure working with you all and I'm sure I will bump into some of you from time to time.
That being said, it has still been a busy month for Surrey! Many of you are on combines earlier than usual with the pesky weather drizzling right when we don't need it to.
The Surrey LNRS consultation launched on 31 July, with more information below this article. We will be sending an email to all members with a link to the map to see if you sit in an area of interest, and arranging a webinar.
County Chair Jim Simmons and I met with councillors Matt Furness and Marissa Heath to discuss the future of Surrey council farms, cutting highways hedges to protect tractor wingmirrors, the change to unitary authority and supporting local abattoirs.
I am pleased to say after some funding, and changes to process, the abattoir in Henfield has managed to increase its capacity and is keen to fill this availability.
After meeting with the Surrey rural crime team, they have informed us of the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner’s intention to hold a rural crime forum to hear the concerns of the community and help use these to shape the funding and resources available to the rural crime unit.
In July and August, Surrey officeholders and myself review and update our county plan for the year ahead. This covers upcoming events for members and focuses on topics we believe members will be most interested in.
This year we have updated our rural crime focus to look at having a farm meeting with the rural crime team in the winter to discuss crime prevention, lobbying MPs, working with the Environment Agency and water companies to find out what funding is available and how best to access this and a focus on livestock health, due to the diseases we have seen over the past few years such as bluetongue.
Please get in touch if there are other topics that are important to you that you would like to see included.
I want to thank the Surrey Group Secretaries Anthony Posnett and Lewis Spooner. They are always keen to get involved and help members whenever they can and their help and guidance to me has been unwavering.
Finally, to everyone showing at, or attending, the Edenbridge and Oxted Show, I hope you have wonderful day. It's an extraordinary example of British agriculture and livestock, with fingers crossed for fair weather.