Carmarthenshire sheep and beef farmer Ian Rickman has been elected as President of the Farmers’ Union of Wales at the union’s council meeting in Aberystwyth.

He takes over from Glyn Roberts, who served the union for eight years in the role.

Mr Rickman’s parents, Robert and Margaret Rickman, moved to Gurnos, Llangadog, Carmarthenshire in 1975; that was Ian's first experience of farming and started a lifelong passion.

“They kept sheep and we also had a herd of Welsh Black suckler cows back in the day. I found that I really enjoyed farming and was about 13 years old at the time," he said.

"I decided I wanted to have a career in agriculture so I went to the Welsh Agricultural college in Aberystwyth. I did a sandwich course there and in my middle year I went to work for Iori and Heulwen Evans, in Pendine who milked around 400 cows at the time.”

When he left college he went back to work for Iori as a herdsman for a couple of years, and then travelled to Australia and New Zealand for nine months to experience farming in different parts of the world.

When his father’s health started to deteriorate in the late 1980s Ian came back home to Gurnos. Today he is in a share farming agreement with his business partner Sean Jeffreys; they keep sheep and rear Wagyu calves.

Ian is married to Helen and they have three boys, Thomas, Sean and Rhys, who have all pursued other careers.

In the late 80s/early 90s Ian started going to FUW meetings in Carmarthenshire and recalls his early days with the FUW.

“I remember going to my first branch meeting in Llangadog all those years ago. Carmarthenshire has always been an FUW stronghold and Peter Davies was the county secretary when I joined the union.

"I went to the local branch meetings and then started going to local county executive meetings. I became county chairman around 2010 and was also a delegate on the FUW Hill farming committee, serving as committee chairman for a time,” he recalls.

In 2017 Ian was elected as South Wales regional vice president and became Deputy President in 2019.

“I never envisioned being President of the FUW but am truly honoured to be elected into the role. I must thank Glyn Roberts for his dedicated service for the past eight years.

"The boots I have to fill are huge and there can never be enough words to convey our debt and gratitude to Glyn for all he has done. I shall always be grateful for the support I have had from members locally in Carmarthenshire and throughout Wales.”

There are many challenges facing the industry and Ian is all too clear that issues such as the Sustainable Farming Scheme, the Agriculture Bill and funding are going to require the full attention of the union.

Bovine TB is also an issue that is at the forefront of his mind.

One ambition for the union in his term as President is that Ian hopes to encourage more young members to join the FUW and encourage more members to take up roles as officials within the organisation, both locally and nationally.

“Succession in the FUW is just as important as it is on a farm,” he added.