A PAST Nuffield scholar and beef, sheep and arable farmer, Caroline Millar, has been announced as the new chairman of the Oxford Farming Conference.

Ms Millar, who farms with her husband, Ross, at Auchterhouse, near Dundee, has also built an award winning agri-tourism business for couples at the farm, called the Hideaway Experience.

She takes over from past chairman, Martin Davies, and will be in the voluntary position for a year, during which she will lead the OFC's industry and charity work, while holding the 2018 conference.

Ms Millar described herself as outspoken, and willing to challenge the status quo. She believes that farmers and the agricultural industry need to work together in order to make profit by selling the industry's key strengths, including food and drink, tourism, renewable energy and accessible green places.

She has a bank of knowledge on rural businesses in other countries, and how they deal with various obstacles within the industry, and she hopes to bring this to her new role: “My experience is in farming, agri-tourism and supporting other rural businesses develop and grow, through the consultancy arm of my business, Go Rural.

“I want to bring this broad experience to shape the focus of the 2018 conference. It may come across as a challenging thing to say, but UK farming must remember that it doesn’t operate in a silo and must stop being so inwardly looking.

"The sector has the Brexit challenges to negotiate and needs to think about the opportunity and impact that it has on the country’s wider economy to build a profitable future," she said. "It is essential for the industry to demonstrate our value as a critical part of the rural economy.”

During her scholarship, in 2013, Ms Millar visited: Australasia, Austria, Belgium, Italy and the USA, to explore how international farmers are adding value to their farms by adding diversified enterprises.