The NPA has begun its search for a new chair, after Rob Mutimer announced he will be stepping down in the spring, after five years in the role.
Mr Mutimer, who runs an 800-sow outdoor unit and wholesale butchery business in north Norfolk with his wife, Helen, was first elected to the role in March 2021, having served three years as vice-chair prior to that. He was re-elected as chair in March 2024, having initially stated that he didn’t intend to stand again.
“I never intended to do a second term, but circumstance meant that I needed to,” he said. “I agreed with the board at the beginning of the second term that I would do two years, so it would give time to bring in a new chair, alongside the existing vice-chairs and Pig Industry Group for a year before the 2027 NPA elections.
“We felt that if you change the whole of the PIG and the chair and vice chairs at the same time, it could be very destabilising.”
He described his first three years as chair, during which the pig sector endured its biggest crisis, as ‘incredibly difficult, but also incredibly interesting and challenging’.
“I learned a huge amount in that time, as well. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the challenge being chair, but I’ve got things going on in my own business that I want to attend to, and I also think, after five years, the association could do with a different pair of eyes,” he said.
“We’ve seen a lot of changes politically in that time and maybe I’ve become slightly weary of that. It feels like the right time to step away from it.”
Exciting opportunity
The NPA is currently advertising for his successor. The advert states that the NPA is looking for ‘a passionate and experienced individual able to represent British pig producers in Westminster and with stakeholders including processors, foodservice, retailers, and to the media, as well as working closely with the NFU and engaging with other industry organisations’.
“It will be a challenging but highly rewarding position, and an opportunity to really make your mark in communicating the role of the UK pig industry throughout government, the wider agricultural sector and beyond,” the advert says.
Knowledge of the UK pig industry is preferred and, as it is a part-time role, the ability to commit to at least three days/week on average is crucial, although the weekly hours required will vary.
Mr Mutimer said it would be an ideal time to take over for his successor. “It is a fabulous industry and a great job for the right person with enough time to dedicate to it,” he said.
“We are looking for someone very much in touch with the industry and how it works to provide oversight and make sure that the association is driving in the right way.
“We are incredibly lucky at the moment – we have got an extremely competent and enthusiastic chief executive, with a strong team and an excellent PIG, so it really is the perfect time to take on the role and help steer the industry through what will certainly be an interesting and exciting few years.”