Nfst Voting Procedures at General Meetings

NFST VOTING PROCEDURES AT GENERAL MEETINGS

1. General.

a. The normal method of NFST Voting at General Meetings will be by a ‘show of hands’ of those entitled to vote;

b. Decision making by this method will be restricted to ‘single option’/‘yes – no’ choices;

c. Whenever practical business requiring a decision by vote will be sequenced into a number of ‘yes – no’ choices to allow voting by ‘show of hands’;

d. When the Chair considers that there is unanimous approval of a resolution he/she may seek any dissension before announcing a decision by acclamation;

e. When a ‘multiple choice’ vote is unavoidable (for example, on occasion when there are more than two members standing for an election for more than one vacancy on the Trust Board) then a ‘paper vote’ will be held.

1. Voting by ‘Show of Hands’:

a. The Chair will state the resolution and seek a ‘Proposer’ and ‘Seconder’ whose names will be recorded;

b. The Chair will then invite members to ‘raise their hands’ to, in turn:

i. Support the resolution, then;

ii. Oppose the resolution;

c. ‘Raised Hands’ will be counted by the Director (or other nominated Trust Board Member) and also by ‘Teller(s)’ (who will normally be NFST Members at large). Numbers of votes counted will be agreed before moving onto the next ‘show of hands’;

d. Decisions will be made by simple majority with the Chair having a (second) casting vote in case of a tie.

e. The Chair will announce the decision of the meeting and record the numbers of votes ‘for’ and ‘against’ the resolution.

1. Holding a Paper Vote:

a. Voting papers will include:

i. Statement and date of the resolution requiring a paper vote;

ii. List of all ‘choices’ open to Members;

iii. Clear indication of the number of votes a Member is entitled to record (for example when choosing a number of new Trustee Board members);

iv. Clearly defined ‘boxes’ for recording the vote(s);

v. Space for recording the name of the Member – to enable checking of the entitlement to vote;

b. Voting papers will, whenever possible, be circulated to Members in advance of the meeting to:

i. Enable postal voting, or;

ii. To facilitate voting by properly registered proxy.

ANNUAL TIMETABLE & PROCESS FOR TRUSTEE ELECTIONS

1. Timetable. Trustees oversee an annual process of canvassing for suitable volunteers to act as Trustees and making recommendations for elections at the Annual General Meeting following the timetable:
   

a. February/March: Trustee Board assess the skills required in new trustees to maintain a suitable balance of expertise. These will be promulgated;

b. April/May: the Director invites Nuffield Scholars to express an interest in becoming a trustee before formally applying by 31st July;

c. April/May: the Director invites returning Scholars to act as a Returning Scholar Trustee and coordinates an election within the year group as necessary;

d. June – August: Trustee Board considers the skills offered by those volunteering to consider the need to invite additional External Trustee(s);

e. September/October: The Nominations Sub-Committee reviews skills of the potential new trustees and makes recommendations to the Trustee Board for its endorsement;

f. October/November: Director promulgates the names of those applying to be new trustees, their applications and the recommendations of the Trustee Board as part of the papers for the Annual General Meeting.

1. Procedure for Election of Trustees. At each Annual General Meeting new trustees will be elected as follows:

a. The recommendations of the Trustee Board are formally announced;

b. The new Returning Scholar Trustee elected by the year group is formally adopted by the Membership;

c. The new External Trustee(s) recommended by the Trustee Board are formally adopted by the Membership;

d. An election of new Nuffield Scholar Trustees is held from all applicants:

i. The proposer and seconder of each applicant will be announced;

ii. When the number of applicants is less than or equal to the number of vacancies on the Trustee Board each applicant will be voted for by a show of hands;

iii. When the number of applicants is more than the number of vacancies on the Trustee Board a paper vote of paid up Members will be held using voting papers circulated in advance;

Mike Vacheras at 31st March 2014

Potential Trustee Application - Sally Beard

Mr MVacher, Director Nuffield Scholarships Trust Taunton

by email 9 July2015

DearMike

I took over the familyfarmingbusinessat the ageof 26followingthe sudden death of my father. I had been pursuing a career in the art world and had to soon learn how to run seven farms growing 1500 acres of fruit, vegetables,Christmastrees andmanageaseriesoffarmshops.

IcompletedmyNuffieldScholarshipin1996entitled"TheProductionandMarketingofEuropeanChristmas Trees". At the time, I was growing 500 acres of Christmas trees supplying the supermarkets and garden centres.

From 1983-1997 I was closely involved with the research institutes of HRI at Wellesbourne, East Malling and the National Fruit Trials at Brogdale, latterly sitting on the Board of these institutions. I have recently become involved withNIAB.

My estate now produces mainly arable crops and so I now have time to pursue other interests and to raise my two sons who are now grown up.

I am a trustee of a couple of substantial charitable organisations which are far removed from farming. The film foundation, which has a trading subsidiary, of which I am a director, receives royalties which we distribute to the National Film and TV School, British Film Institute, BAFTA and the Royal Academy of Arts to name a few. The endowed charity supports research into ageing and has substantial investments.

Through these organisations I have learnt and experienced some of the ins and outs of running charities. The charity income is given only to institutions that are properly structured with the appropriate governance and managementinplaceandwhosubmitacompellingcaseforfunding."Todoeven better"isourmotto.

Royalties, charity law, corporate governance and company finance are some of the areas of expertise I have developed. Each year we have to review and select 3/4 exceptional candidates for scholarships at the NFTS fortwo-yearcoursesinscreenplaywriting,fictiondirectionand editingandthe charitythenfundstheir fees.

ThroughdonationstotheRoyalAcademyofArtsImeetmanywealthybenefactors(£60m hasjustbeen raisedforanewbuildingto link PiccadillytoBurlington Gardens).

Farming/scienceisa very poor relation tothearts. Funding for science and crop researchis nothigh on the agendaformostEuropean Governmentssoencouraginginvestmentintheseareasandforyoungpeopletobe inspiredbythefarming industry,iscrucial.Through Nuffield, thishasbeen a verysuccessful route – I hopethat it can "do even better" and would welcome the opportunity tocontribute!

Yourssincerely

Potential Trustee Application - Christoph Graf Grote

CHRISTOPH GRAF GROTE BLUDDLES FARM

EAST SOMERTON

GREAT YARMOUTH

NORFOLK

NR 29 4DU

+44 (0)7785 325791

9th July 2015

Col. Mike Vacher, OBE

Director NFST

Southill Farmhouse

Staple Fitzpaine

Taunton TA3 5SH

Dear Mike

I would like to apply to stand for a second term as Trustee of the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust. The last 3 years as Trustee have been exciting and, believing that we have achieved a great deal for the good of the Trust and can do more, I would like to offer my continued involvement, particularly in bringing an international and European aspect to what we do.

I was born and raised in Germany, completing my education with a DFM at Seale-Hayne in 1976. Joining Greens as trainee, I became one of their partners in 1980, managing farms, as well as the pack-house and developing the first UK fresh produce export company and co-operative PES. I served on Food From Britain committees and the board, was UK vegetable and fruit packers elected director of the Produce Packaging and Marketing Association for 6 years and awarded the ‘Grower’ Norah Stucken Award in 1987 for ‘Outstanding Services to UK Horticulture’.

Between 1984 and 2004 I farmed on my own account in Norfolk with FBT’s totalling 1,600ha of intensive vegetable, root crops and livestock production on the East Norfolk coast, where I still live. I sold my farming company with the sale of the foreign owned estate.

In 1989 I was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to explore the farm management potential in Poland and the then USSR. I initiated the Nuffield Russia Trust with James Nelstrop, selected the first students for the Nuffield/British Council farm management course in 1990 and ran a number of EU TACIS, PHARE and UK-KHF projects in CE and EE between 1990 and 1995. Following a 1,200ha farming venture in former East Germany, I set up Farmwealth Ltd, making the first farming investment in Poland in 1995 and merging with Greens in 2000 to form Spearhead International Ltd ( today farming some 85,000ha across 5 European countries and a T/O of £200mill.

Within Spearhead, I am responsible for the Spearhead Academy, our development and trainingcompany for junior and senior management; our international property portfolio and technical innovations in farming. I am a member of the Global Innovations Council of John Deere International, as well as the steering committee of the National Centre for Precision Farming at Harper Adams.

Aged 61, I have been married to Ines for 27 years. We have three sons in their twenties. I serve on the local PCC and have been a governor of our Foundation Middle School for 12 years.Having benefitted hugely from the exposure to the farming world at large by my Scholarship, I would like to continue to devote some time as Trustee to developing this opportunity for others.

Yours sincerely

Christoph

Signed in hard copy

Potential Trustee Application - David Hill

R W HILL (FARMS) LTDMANOR FARM

TEL (01362) 820 239/07850 913645 BRADENHAM

e-mail: THETFORD

NORFOLK

IP25 7QE

Col. Mike Vacher OBE FCMI

Nuffield Director

Southill Farmhouse,

Staple Fitzpaine,

Taunton,

Somerset

TA3 5SH

Dear Mike

Application for position of Trustee

I would like to put my name forward for consideration for the position of Trustee.

I have enjoyed the ‘Nuffield experience’ since returning in 1988 from my study tour in Australia. I initially helped John Green with the ‘Newmarket’ arable tour and then organized the Arable Group tours with Ian Alston for the next 6 years.

I promoted Nuffield to potential new scholars in the Eastern region prior to Guy Smith’s tenure.

I have attended most of the conferences and arable group meetings as well as money-makers and business groups.

I was the first to plant GM sugar beet for the SCIMAC field scale evaluation trials in the late 1990’s and have been involved with biotechnology with the NFU at national level and in Brussels, chairing the European Farmer’s Biotech Network. This has resulted in meeting people from different parts of the world and being able to learn and share ideas with them.

I have been involved in the local community, chairing the Parish Council for 9 years and have been twice chairman for the local NFU branch as well as representing the county at regional level.

I currently chair the Breckland LAG and am on the New Anglia Food, Drink and Agriculture Board which advises the Norfolk and Suffolk LEP.

My wife and I farm 1400 acres in mid Norfolk, specializing in seed production of early generation cereals. OSR and beans. We grow grass seed and process it for the merchant trade and produce Spelt for specialist millers. We also have a small suckler herd, selling the progeny as stores.

I consider I have a long association with the Nuffield organization and understand its aim to promote young able people to explore and achieve new and best practice for taking the industry forward. My biotech contacts internationally would be useful to Nuffield (UK, Europe and USA). I consider research will be important to increase food production and Nuffield can do much to promote agriculture together with caring for the environment to both fellow farmers and the decision-makers of the future.

Yours sincerely,

David Hill

Potential Trustee Application - Wyn Owen

Application for election as a Trustee of the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust

Wyn Owen

Winning a Nuffield Scholarship in 1998 to study white clover was one of the most influential and life changing experiences of my life. I had by then been managing the family hill farm in mid Wales for fifteen years, however on returning from New Zealand I decided to develop my career and found work off-farm within a month. The time spent away from my business and the opportunity to reflect classically cited as benefits of a Nuffield Scholarship, certainly changed my attitudes and perceptions.

The Nuffield farming Scholarships Trust is very close to my heart and something I am very proud to be associated with. I have missed few conferences since my award and have taken the lead in organising reunions with my year group. I chaired the organising committee for the Cardiff Nuffield conference in 2013 and was privileged to work with a small but extremely hard working and competent team to deliver a successful and well attended conference. I am currently Chair of Nuffield in Wales and enjoy all the elements this involves such as attending receptions at the Royal Welsh summer show and winter fair, annual visits to scholars’ farms, presentation rehearsals for returning scholars and particularly supporting potential scholars with their applications. Over the past three years I have also been involved with establishing mentoring programmes for newly awarded Nuffield scholars in Ireland and the UK. This includes programme design, development and the training and supporting of mentors.

Since my Nuffield I have worked with a range of businesses in the public and private sector including a period as a special projects manager for a farmer owned co-operative and as a lecturer at Llysfasi College. I launched my freelance career in 2003 when I started working on Agrisgôp - a Management development programme for farmers using Action Learning to develop viable sustainable farm businesses throughout Wales. I also work with a broad range of other clients and utilise a combination of facilitation, coaching and training to develop ideas and resolve issues. I have an interest in developing individuals within organisations with my principal fields of interest being positive change management, team dynamics and leadership. In the past year I have developed and delivered a Masters level course in facilitation accredited by Aberystwyth University and plan to launch a second module in coaching and mentoring early in 2016. My current clients include the Welsh Government, the Isle of Man Government, Gwynedd and Ceredigion Councils, NFU, NSA and EBLEX.

I continue to be fully involved with managing the family farm in partnership with my wife Chris, we run a performance recorded sheep flock, heifer rear over the winter and have recently entered two environmental/conservation schemes. We were a demonstration farm for four years highlighting the benefits of performance recording, low input clover based systems and rotational grazing.

My Nuffield instigated a commitment to personal and professional development through lifelong learning and I was able to update and reference my Nuffield report as part of a Masters in Animal Production and Marketing, graduating from Harper-Adams in 2003. I am qualified to asses and verify NVQs, and also to administer and assess both personality and occupational psychometric tests. I also hold a graduate diploma in Psychology (Oxford Brookes, 2008) and an MSc in Occupational Psychology (Wolverhampton, 2014). I won the Lantra lifelong learner award in 2004 and Wales and National Training Awards in 2005. I have served as a judge on the Lantra awards, National training awards, Apprenticeships awards Wales and the Farmers Guardian awards.

Experienced in both quantitative and qualitative research methods, I believe that undertaking research projects within organisations leads to real and pertinent outcomes that enable the utilisation of evidence based best practice in the workplace. Since becoming Manager of the Agrisgôp programme in 2009 I have undertaken research to consider whether personality measures can be utilised to predict effective facilitators of organisational change and also designed a longitudinal mixed measures tool to assess the impact of the Agrisgôp programme on its beneficiaries.

Having worked for many years as a trainer I now spend more time as a facilitator and coach. I have facilitated Action Learning for a wide range of organisations and am currently facilitating a set of third sector Chief Executives. I presented papers to disseminate practice at the International Action Learning conference held at Henley Management College in 2008 and Ashridge Business School in 2012 (and 2014). I was subsequently invited to present at the Global Forum on executive development and business driven Action Learning in Yokohama, Japan in June 2012 and Clare College, Cambridge in 2015.

It has always been a priority for me to give something back to my community, the industry and particularly to support education, learning and personal development. I am a past Chair of my local Community council, Farmers Union branch, Powys grassland society and sheep sire reference group. I was also chair of governors at the local primary school for six years, Chair of Powys governors association and a parent governor representative on the local authority’s scrutiny committee. I am currently Chair of governors at Caereinion high school a member of Powys governors’ consultative committee and a Governors Wales board member. As a Chair, I aim to utilise my experience as a facilitator to ensure that everyone is heard whilst also seeking positive, strategic and timely, win/win outcomes.

I would sincerely hope that my life experiences as outlined above would serve me well if I was privileged enough to become a Nuffield Trustee. If elected, I would endeavour to use my experience, education and judgement in the best interests of Nuffield Scholars, the Trust and our industry.

Wyn Owen MSc, DipPsych, MBPsS, NSch, ARAgS.

July 2015

Tel: 01938 820434

Mobile: 07919 447434

e-mail:

Potential Trustee Application - Duncan Rawson

Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust

Formal application for election to the board of Trustees

I have been employed within the agri-food sector throughout my career and have a robust track record of leading successful commercial businesses, with a proven ability to develop strategic direction and motivate change. I am 45 years old, married with two children aged 12 and 9 and was awarded my Nuffield Scholarship in 2005.

Experience to date:

2010 – to date: I am currently a Partner at European Food and Farming Partnerships LLP (EFFP) being part of the management team that purchased the business in 2010. Much of my role involves working for clients such as Nestlé, Lactalis and Kellogg’s operating at director level to support the development and implementation of both business and supply chain strategy. I also lead on organisation structure and financing and have been involved in the development of several start-up businesses as well as providing support to existing businesses reviewing their constitutional, organisational or financial structure. This has included the restructuring of two charitable associations.