Robert Neill
Michael Davis
Duncan Macalister
Andrew Connon
Alasdair Macnab
NFU Scotland has named five candidates who will compete for presidential roles at the Union ahead of next years' annual general meeting (AGM) in Glasgow.
Current vice-presidents, Andrew Connon and Alasdair Macnab, will contest for the position of president at the Union's AGM in Glasgow on February 7.
The position of president will be voted on by the Union's Council, and the successful candidate will be elected to the post for a two-year term.
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They will succeed current incumbent Martin Kennedy who has held office for four years, the maximum term allowed under the Union's constitution.
Michael Davis, Duncan Macalister and Robert Neill have expressed their intention to be nominated to the role of vice-president.
Vice-presidents will also be elected by the Council for an initial two-year period before being eligible for re-election on an annual basis thereafter.
Hustings events, attended in person by all presidential candidates, will take place in January.
Announcing the candidates at the Union's Christmas press briefing earlier this month, chief executive John Davidson said he was delighted.
He said: "Strong teamwork has always been central to NFU Scotland's lobbying efforts.
"We have excellent candidates for the president and vice-presidential posts.
"I encourage each and every member to take part in the forthcoming hustings events in January."
Learn more about each candidate below:
Presidential Candidates
Andrew Connon
Andrew farms in partnership near Ellon in Aberdeenshire on 370-acres where the main enterprises involve finishing cattle, breeding and finishing sheep, and spring barley.
He is married to, and ably assisted by, Pauline, his son Andrew and daughter Sarah.
After graduating from Aberdeen University with an Honour's degree in General Agriculture, he joined Velcourt as a trainee farm manager in South East England before returning to a farm management position in Aberdeenshire.
Andrew then embarked on a commercial career in agricultural finance with NWS Bank and then JCB Finance.
In 1999, he joined the family-owned machinery business of A M Phillip initially as a branch manager before becoming a director and then dealer principal until the business was sold in 2018.
He then worked with the Online Market Places – SellMyLivestock and Graindex for 4 years.
Currently, Andrew does some landowner engagement work for a local company.
He is a long-standing member of NFUS new deer branch and a former branch chair.
He represented the North East Regional Board for several years, elected vice-chair (2017) and chair (2020).
In February 2021, Andrew was elected NFU-S vice-president.
He was re-elected in February 2023 and was unchallenged in February 2024.
He currently sits on the Food and Farming Team Committees: Livestock, Milk, Pigs, Poultry, Combinable Crops, Potatoes, and Horticulture.
He has also sat on the Finance Committee since elected in February 2021.
Alasdair Macnab
Alasdair Macnab farms at Kildun, Dingwall with his wife Gill, running the well-known Alagils pedigree Limousin herd, growing malting barley and hay.
Alasdair went to Dingwall Academy and then Glasgow University graduating in veterinary medicine.
He worked in a vet practice in Ross-shire for 11 years, then joined the Government's Vet service in Inverness.
Working across Britain for 25 years gaining extensive experience in animal welfare, BSE, TB, and the Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth outbreaks, disease outbreak management, data management, import and export, pigs, poultry, transport of livestock, crofting and publishing research.
He now farms and runs a consultancy advising farmers in legal disputes.
His farming career started on his late uncle's dairy farm at Humberston, Dingwall (now Dingwall Auction Mart) working with dairy, sheep and cereals.
He was a crofter breeding cattle and sheep near Strathpeffer for over ten years before buying Kildun from his mother in 2005.
On Kildun, Alasdair and Gill have developed some high value nature sites to integrate into the farm system and are currently working on a nature restoration project for salmon and trout.
Alasdair has built several houses, run a timber reclamation and flooring business, is a past RHET Highland chair and is currently a trustee at the Ross County Foundation, a community charity linked to Ross County Football Club where he is also a season ticket holder.
Alasdair has been a member of NFUS for over thirty years.
On leaving Government service, he took on the role of vice-chair for Black Isle and Mid Ross Branch in 2016, becoming chair in 2017 and representing Highland Region on the Legal and Technical Committee.
He took on Legal and Technical Committee chair in February 2022 and was elected NFUS vice-president in February 2023.
In the role of vice-president, he has had oversight of most of the commodity committees and now leads on the Climate Land and Business policy areas.
This includes the committees for Next Generation, Less Favoured Areas, Environment and Land Use, Legal and Technical. and Crofting, Highlands and Islands.
Vice-presidential candidates
Michael Davis
Mike is a first-generation farmer.
He farms in the Insch and Oldmeldrum areas with his wife Bridie, growing crops on 220 acres of grade 3 land, based predominantly on a wheat and oats rotation.
He is not from a farming family but knew that he wanted to make a career in agriculture.
After school he chose to study Agricultural Biochemistry at Newcastle University from which he graduated having undertaken an honours project on meat quality in pigs.
Whilst at Newcastle, he worked on the University pig unit at Cockle Park.
He then progressed to Aberdeen University to complete a PhD in beef cow nutrition followed by a return to Newcastle University for a post-doctoral position investigating the use of rapeseed meal in pig diets.
Mike then moved to Scotland to work for SAC as a poultry adviser at Craibstone.
In 1990, Mike and Bridie bought West Knockenbaird, Insch, using every bit of cash they could scrape together and built a small broiler unit.
Mike resigned from SAC and joined Grampian Police in 1992 for a steady income and shift pattern, which allowed him and Bridie to develop the farm and build a house where they raised three children.
It was hard on both of them, Mike working two jobs and Bridie raising the family whilst working on the broiler unit.
This period of adversity was invaluable, instilling resilience and a strong work ethic.
Over the following years the business developed including a few years when they had suckler cows which made no money but did leave Mike with a great respect for his neighbours and friends for whom ruminant livestock were the main enterprise.
When the broiler industry changed with the closure of the Aberdeenshire processing factories, a strategic decision was made to end broiler production and build an 800kW wind turbine.
This was a successful move which ultimately allowing the purchase of additional land, and elimination of debt.
Mike is pragmatic and practical with an ability to see through the 'clutter' to grasp the salient points of regulation.
He has been an NFUS member for 13 years and for the last three years has sat on the North East Regional Board as the renewables co-ordinator.
Of particular concern to Mike is the dire lack of opportunity for young people to enter the industry as returns from activity are low, land and machinery expensive and tenancies rare.
Duncan Macalister
Duncan farms a 2000-acre mixed LFA livestock coastal farm in Glenbarr on the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula.
He is supported by his wife, Fiona, their four children Eilidh, Neil, Cameron and Robbie and their grandson, Finlay.
Eilidh and Robbie help on the farm working alongside the loyal team that is Ian, George and Tommy.
The family farm 160 native cross suckler cows and 600 Lleyn cross breeding ewes.
The farm has a self-contained flock and herd, buying only bulls and tups.
90% of the stock is sold deadweight, with lambs fattened on brassicas and cattle finished on silage and barley.
They grow 125-acres of barley for their own consumption.
The farm has a 7.5-megawatt Community Wind Farm as well as 600-acres of forestry.
After leaving school in 1981, Duncan travelled to North Wales, for his pre-college year, where he worked on a dairy farm milking twice a day.
He then spent 18 months in New Zealand and Australia working on livestock units before returning to Aberdeen.
From there, he worked at a sheep and pig fattening unit in North Yorkshire before moving to Hawick as a stockman on a mixed livestock farm.
Two years later, he moved to Melrose as a farm manager on mixed arable farm.
In 1993, Duncan returned to Glenbarr to take over the family farm which was significantly in debt.
After major restructuring and an openness to explore diversification projects, such as tree planting and renewable energy, the business is now in a more stable, financial position.
Duncan is the former QMS Kintyre monitor farmer.
The experience introduced better herd management with rotational grazing and EID recording, soil management with regular soil analysis and easy-care sheep to the area.
Within NFUS, he has served two years on the Livestock Committee, eight years as Kintyre Branch chair and for the last five years Argyll and the Isles regional chair with a place on the NFUS Board.
During this time, Duncan worked with the Rest and Be Thankful pressure group and had extensive negotiations with SEPA in a bid to resolve ongoing slurry storage issues.
When not working Duncan enjoys visiting new places and supporting the Scotland rugby team.
Robert Neill
Robert is a tenant farmer on Lothian Estate in the Scottish Borders and farms with his wife, Jacqueline, and two sons Andrew and Harry.
Upper Nisbet Farm along with the neighbouring farms of Ploughlands and Ormiston Mains, covers an area of 1,700-acres growing 1,000 acres of cereals.
They also run 350 suckler cows and are finishing all progeny on home-grown forage and cereals.
He has experience working with several organisations including chair of the South of Scotland and Border Valuers' Association; chair of the Borders Crop and Grassland Competition; Board member of RHET Scottish Borders Countryside Initiative; chair of the Kelso and St Boswells branch of NFUS.
He is in his second term representing the Lothians and Borders on the NFU Scotland National Livestock Committee and is vice-chair of the Lothian and Borders Region of NFUS.
In 2013, he was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship, and he undertook an overseas tour to study Electronic Identification in the cattle industry.
The knowledge acquired through his Nuffield Study led to him being part of the Scottish Bovine EID Stakeholders group.
Robert has also been a director of AgriScot for the past 10 years and is the current chair, a position he has held for seven years.
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