Scottish organic dairy farmer Murray Brown has been elected as the new membership committee chairman for the Organic Milk Suppliers Cooperative (OMSCo).
Murray will play an important role within the only national 100% organic, farmer-owned and farmer-run dairy cooperative in the UK. He will lead a team of 12 regional representatives across the UK to ensure they collectively and effectively relay the views of OMSCo’s 270 members to the Board and management team.
Commenting on his appointment, Murray says “I’ve been an OMSCo member since we started producing organic milk back in 2000 and I think a big part of the success of the cooperative is owed to the communication and collaboration between all stakeholders. In my role as chairman of the membership committee, I will try to ensure this relationship continues and that the views of the wider membership are represented throughout the business.”
A dairy farmer from South Lanarkshire, Murray has been involved with OMSCo’s membership committee for six years as the regional representative for Scotland and will take this knowledge forward into his new role.
“There are practical issues within organic farming such as the cost and availability of organic feed. It’s vital that OMSCo members share knowledge to come up with innovative solutions to common challenges, that will enable us to deliver sustainable and successful organic production systems,” he says.
Supporting Murray will be Welsh dairy farmer, Arwel Davies who has been appointed as Vice-Chairman.
Also newly appointed to the membership committee is Kirsten Chandler-Ross. Kirsten runs an organic dairy farm in Holsworthy, and will take up the position as regional representative for Devon.
Kirsten says she is delighted to have been selected to represent fellow Devonshire OMSCo members.
“I’m immensely passionate about organic dairy farming and I’m looking forward to taking the ideas and opinions of my fellow members to the wider OMSCo team, to aid the long-term call of our cooperative.”
OMSCO’s managing director Richard Hampton says Murray, Arwel and Kirsten are excellent representatives for OMSCo farmers, possessing the values and vision required to continue the success of OMSCo.
