The new president of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), Victoria Vyvyan, has started her two-year tenure.
Vyvyan takes over from Cotswolds farmer, Mark Tufnell, as the association’s 56th president in its 116-year history.
Vyvyan has outlined her priorities as CLA president. These are:
- Ensuring political parties develop robust and ambitious policies to grow the rural economy;
- Supporting the next generation of rural businesses to succeed and thrive, from funding to skills provision;
- Recognising and celebrating the regional differences that make the rural economy so vibrant and diverse, and ensuring their voices are heard.
“I want every landowner, every farmer, every rural entrepreneur to know that the CLA is on their side,” Vyvyan said.
“As president, I will be unrelenting in pursuit of an environment that allows our businesses, our landscapes and our way of life to thrive.
“This is a crucial time for farming and the rural economy, and the unique role that the CLA plays has never been more important.
“Environmental Land Management schemes are being rolled out, BPS is being cut, rural communities are being hit hard by the cost of living crisis, and persistently low economic productivity is hampering our businesses and workers.”
Victoria Vyvyan
Vyvyan’s home is Trelowarren on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall. The CLA said she belongs to a diversified rural family business with an ecological focus.
The business includes some tenanted and some in-hand agricultural land, a lowland heath restoration project, woodland managed in-hand for quality timber and for bio-mass production, a tourism business, a new restaurant and off-site building projects.
Vyvyan said farmers, landowners and rural businesses are dynamic and forward-thinking and help to “feed the nation, create jobs, build homes, fight climate change and look after the environment“.
“With the right support and ambition the full potential of the countryside can be unlocked,” she said.
“I aim to work with the whole CLA team across England and Wales to make sure that our members’ interests are fairly represented in the run-up to the general election and under the next government, whatever its colour.”
Gavin Lane has been appointed CLA deputy president, while Joe Evans has been appointed to the role of vice president.
