Scottish Agri Stalwart, Andrew Moir, Receives 2024 Ed Rainy Brown Award

The 2024 Ed Rainy Brown Memorial Award has been presented to Andrew Moir in recognition of his many years of co-operation and collaboration in farming, food, and rural Scotland. Andrew was presented with the award at the SAOS Conference Dinner at Dunblane Hydro by Katy Rainy Brown.

Andrew has played a key role in Scottish agriculture and has been a great source of encouragement and good sense for youngsters and new entrants to the industry. He has embodied co-operation in Scottish agricultural with passion and enthusiasm.

Announcing Andrew as the award winner, SAOS Chairman John Hutcheson related how Andrew has served the Scottish farming industry in a host of different ways over many years, including as Chair of SAOS members, Ringlink Scotland Ltd and Scottish Quality Crops, and Vice Chair of the Scottish Machinery Rings Association. He has also held prominent roles with NFU Scotland, who jointly sponsor the award.

(Pictured left to right are SAOS Chairman John Hutcheson, Katy Rainy Brown, Andrew Moir and Martin Kennedy NFUS President.)

Within the wider industry, Andrew is a key member of the Agricultural Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), which was established to support the implementation of agriculture policy reform. He is also past Chair of AgriScot, and Voluntary Initiative in Scotland, and was on AHDB’s Combinable Crops Board for several years. He is a fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society and is also Honorary President of Fettercairn Show.

Andrew runs his own contract farming business at Mains of Thorton, Laurencekirk. Before farming in his own right, Andrew was a farm manager with the Co-operative Farms, initially on a 650 acres dairy/arable farm but latterly looking after 4,500 acres across nine businesses from Perthshire to Aberdeenshire, mainly in contract farming arrangements. He is married to Anne with three grown up boys and six grandchildren.

Although Andrew has led a busy life, he always found time to devote to the public service of the industry he loves. In 2021, Andrew chaired the influential Arable Climate Change Group, one of the five farmer-led groups established by Scottish Government. The Group’s purpose was to recommend practical, evidence-based measures that the arable and horticulture sector could implement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and demonstrate how the sector could help achieve the Scottish Government's statutory climate change targets.

NFU Scotland and SAOS jointly sponsor the Ed Rainy Brown Memorial Award. Ed was previously Chief Executive of both organisations, and the award was dedicated to his memory, following his tragic death in 2003. Commenting on Andrew’s award, NFU Scotland President Martin Kennedy said: “It is an absolute pleasure to see one of the industry’s true stalwarts receive this award from SAOS and NFU Scotland given the huge shift that Andrew has put in on behalf of both organisations and the wider farming sector.

“At NFU Scotland, Andrew has, over more than 30 years, represented members locally, regionally, and nationally. He initially represented his region on the head office committee for milk before many years’ service representing the North East on combinable crops, a committee he went on to chair for three years. Andrew was also the NFU Scotland nominee to chair the Voluntary Initiative in Scotland from 2015 to 2020, driving forward the responsible use of plant protection products. 

“He had a fundamental role, under his chair, in developing AgriScot into the leading winter event in Scotland.  More recently, Andrew’s knowledge and skills have proven invaluable as we seek to ensure post-Brexit agricultural policy in Scotland reflects the needs of the cropping sector while, under his chair, the nation’s quality assurance scheme for crops, SQC, places our growers at the premium end of UK and European markets.”