We track exits from BioMar and ForFarmers, among other moves, in this month's career gallery.
Andrew Knowles has been appointed CEO of Suffolk-based farming cooperative Fram Farmers in the UK. He will take up the role in July 2020.
With a degree in agricultural management, Knowles has a long-standing career in agriculture, initially as a farm consultant working with arable businesses in East Anglia, before heading the technical, knowledge transfer and communication teams for AHDB Pork at a challenging time for the industry amid the Foot and Mouth outbreak, said the cooperative.
In 2015, he won the prestigious David Black Award, given to those who have made a significant and sustained contribution to the British pig industry. Since 2015, he has been pig marketing director at ForFarmers, responsible for developing and executing the company’s European pig strategy.
Marianne Nergård has taken on the role of veterinarian and key account manager for QRILL Aqua sales in Aker BioMarine. In her new role, she is responsible for communicating the value of krill on the health and performance of various marine species, said the company.
Nergård has dedicated much of her career to investigating and communicating the effects of krill on fish health, it added.
Prior to joining Aker BioMarine, she spent five years at BioMar, working in product development and technical support on the functional feed side.
During her time at BioMar, she also worked closely with the R&D department, exploring the effects of high krill diets on fish, said Aker BioMarine. One of her main responsibilities was to communicate how feed influences fish health and welfare, as well as how it improves the overall fillet quality and performance, said the krill product producer.
Catherine (Cat) McLaughlin has been elected new chair of RUMA, the UK agriculture and food industry alliance which promotes responsible use of medicines in farm animals. Formerly deputy chair of the organisation, she takes over the reins from Gwyn Jones at the end of his final term in the role, with Dawn Howard appointed as new deputy chair.
The elections took place at RUMA’s annual general meeting in London on March 4. McLaughlin, who is also chief animal health and welfare adviser with the NFU and a director of Animal Medicines Training Regulatory Authority (AMTRA), said she was stepping into the chair’s position at a time of emerging challenges.
She said: “Over the past six years, the UK livestock industry has secured remarkable progress in voluntarily improving antibiotic stewardship, halving use to achieve some of the lowest sales in Europe both overall and of highest-priority Critically Important Antibiotics.
“However, there’s more to do. New challenges are emerging all the time – including resistance to other medicines such as anthelmintics, novel scientific research that will inform changes in practices, and rapidly-evolving political, climatic and social environments.
“Steering the livestock sectors through this will continue to be RUMA’s remit. I look forward to bringing my knowledge and experience – alongside that of my new deputy chair, Dawn, the members of the RUMA board and the Independent Scientific Group – to help the livestock industries face these challenges.”
France's Avril group has announced the appointment of Xavier Dorchies as chief operating officer of Sofiprotéol, its subsidiary dedicated to financing companies in the agricultural and agri-food sector.
Dorchies joins the Comex of the Avril group. He succeeds Michel Boucly, who retired.
A graduate of AgroParisTech and ESSEC, he has spent his entire career working in the vegetable oil and protein industry.
After an initial commercial experience in crushing and then as an investor at Sofiprotéol, he has contributed, since the acquisition of Lesieur in 2003, to the main stages of development of the Avril group in France and internationally, in both central and operational functions.
He has been the group's director of strategy and development since 2016, a role he will retain, said Avril.
EW Nutrition US has selected as its CEO, Scott Moore, an experienced top player in the animal health and nutrition industry.
He was appointed to lead the German-based company into a new decade of expansion through improved customer-centric solutions.
Moore comes to EW Nutrition US on the heels of his tenure as president of North America operations for Hamlet Protein Inc. "With decades of experience in top positions for Novus, Novartis, Perdue, Land O'Lakes and more, he brings an increased focus on customer-centric strategy and sales management."