Leading north-east farmer, John (Jack) Lind, Overton of Keithfield, Methlick, who had extensive farming interests in both Aberdeenshire and Poland has died aged 81.
In the 1980s he was chief executive of farmers’ cooperative, Aberdeen and Northern Marts (ANM) and master-minded the development of Thainstone Agricultural Centre, Inverurie
Jack, an entrepreneurial farmer and businessman, is rightly credited with being the inspiration behind the Thainstone development with the vision to create an agricultural centre incorporating the most modern auction centre in Europe.
The investment of £6.5 million was huge for the time but the cost was mitigated by the largest grant awarded up to that time by the EU’s fund for agricultural development.
Vision
Jack was appointed chief executive of ANM, now ANM Group Ltd, in 1985 after several years as a non-executive director with a mandate to carry out modernisation of what was then an ailing business.
The closure of smaller uneconomic marts throughout the north-east caused angst among members of the co-operative who mounted angry protests.
But the board of directors were clear that this was needed to ensure the future of the company. The closures started before Jack’s appointment as chief executive and continued under his stewardship.
Thainstone was officially opened in January, 1990, by the then Secretary of State for Scotland, Malcolm Rifkind.
Innovation
Other developments at the time included the successful branding and marketing of meat subsidiary, Scotch Premier Meat Ltd, for the home and export market and the introduction in 1989 of Europe’s first commercial electronic marketing system for livestock and grain.
This followed the acquisition of the European rights for the pioneering OLEX electronic auction system developed in Canada by the Ontario Livestock Exchange.
With his mission completed, Jack resigned in 1990 to concentrate on his own family farming business, J and WF Lind, which he ran in partnership with his late brother, William, and is now run by his son, John.
The long-established dairy operation was discontinued in 2015 with a move to beef cattle breeding and the establishment of a suckler herd of Stabiliser cattle.
Enterprising
However, the leading enterprise on the farm has always been the production of high-grade seed potatoes and John was a significant player in the sector, establishing the UK’s first commercial micro-propagation laboratory for seed potatoes in 1979.
In 1996, Lind Agriculture Ltd was established and through its Polish subsidiary, leases of large, previously state-owned farms were acquired for large-scale high-grade seed potato production, based on seed from the Lind’s farms in Scotland.
The project was initially driven by the absence of quality seed for the production of ware potatoes for crisp manufacture in Poland and substantial modernisation and adaptation of the facilities was required.
The business has expanded to become Europe’s largest privately owned seed potato producer, with a substantial export business.
University
Graduating with a BSc in agriculture from Aberdeen University in 1962, Jack’s first job was as an inspector for two years with the Department of Agriculture for the west coast and Inner Hebrides based in Oban.
He returned to the north-east in 1965 when appointed a director of Strathearn Farms Ltd, a Spiller’s farming subsidiary, with a large pig finishing operation in Aberdeenshire.
Jack’s entrepreneurial spirit came to the fore when he led a management buy-out of the operation, diversifying into a large dairy operation and establishing the successful animal feed company, Fochel Mills Ltd, which was sold to Dalgety in 1987.
He was also a founder-director and vice-chairman of the potato marketing cooperative, Aberdeen Potato Organisation (ASPO) from 1979 to 2003, and a director of the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute from 1990 to 1997.
Modernisation
What he described as a small cottage industry, Agricultural Produce Exchange (Europe) Ltd (APEX) was established in 1992 and its great success was the electronic auctioning of virtually the whole of Northern Ireland’s milk production from 1994 to 2011 following the dissolution of the milk boards in the UK.
In 1994, Jack was appointed to the main board of Grampian Country Foods Ltd, to head up the acquisition of McIntosh Donald Ltd of Portlethen and Welsh Country Foods, establishing the group’s red meat division where he became chairman.
Modest and unassuming, perhaps his greatest strength was his skill in the selection of staff and many of the managers he appointed to run his various businesses appreciated the opportunity he gave them to further their careers.
At the time of his death, Jack was looking forward to attending a reunion of former directors of ANM to be hosted next month to mark the group’s 150th anniversary.
His funeral will be private at his own request. He is survived by his five children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Conversation