Minette Batters, former NFU president, has been nominated for a life peerage.
Mrs Batters served as an NFU officeholder for ten years, after being made deputy president in 2014 and president in 2018.
She stepped down in February earlier this year, and has held NFU positions ranging from grassroots through to County Chair.
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Her time with the organisation also saw her serving as Wiltshire’s Council delegate and as Regional Board Chair for the South West.
Current NFU President Tom Bradshaw said: “I would also like to offer, on behalf of the whole NFU family, my huge congratulations to our former President, Minette Batters, who will shortly be appointed as a Crossbench member of the House of Lords.
“I know she will continue to be a tenacious campaigner for our sector from the red benches.”
Mrs Batters was made a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2021, and will now be made a Baroness following her nomination.
She follows former NFU President Lord Henry Plumb, who was made a life peer in 1987, serving in the Lords until 2017.
The position will see her become a cross-bench peer after she has been sworn into the House of Lords.
Mrs Batters welcomed that the position didn’t focus on one particular party, Farmers Weekly reported.
“I’ve always been apolitical, so taking a party side is something I could never have done. But I am absolutely delighted – especially for the people I have worked with at the NFU over 10 years. This is certainly as much credit to them as it is to me.”
She is expected to take up her position in the Lords after the summer recess, and she said that there is “mountain to climb” for farming.
“If I can continue to influence that agenda, I will. Farming’s voice has not had the weight behind it, either in the Commons or the Lords, so I hope that can change.”
