FOLLOWING an extraordinary meeting of the Arla Foods UK area forum, Arthur Fearnall has been appointed to the Arla Foods amba board, with immediate effect – filling the space made vacant in December 2017 by the departure of Jonathan Ovens.

Mr Fearnall will join Johnnie Russell as the two UK board of directors who represent the interests of UK members on the 15 strong farmer board, in overseeing the management of the Arla Foods amba cooperative. Mr Russell has held the position since October 2012.

Mr Fearnall will continue to sit on the UK Arla Farmers Cooperative (UKAF) board as well as the UK area council.

He has been a member of the Arla Foods amba board of representatives since 2014. Since 2016 he has been a UKAF board director and a member of the UK area council. He is also chair of the Arla Morrisons farmer committee and works closely with Arla’s management team on a number of projects including being a member of the Brexit farmer taskforce.

A busy man, he is also the chairman of the Dairy UK farmers forum as well as being a board member of the Dairy UK and Dairy Council board. He is an eighth generation dairy farmer on his family farm in Chester.

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Fearnall said: “I am absolutely delighted to have received the support of Arla’s UK elected representatives and am looking forward to taking up this challenging but exciting role, working for the good of Arla’s 11,400 farmer owners in what is currently a volatile market environment.”

Åke Hantoft, chairman of the Arla Foods amba board, said: “This year is a strategically important year for Arla and I look forward to welcoming Arthur to the board, when we meet later this month.”