Westmeath farmer is the latest to join Lakeland board
27-year-old Aisling Neville was appointed to the board of Lakeland Dairies recently, following a recent keenly contested election. She is the first female board member.
A dairy farmer in Co Westmeath has become the latest member of the Lakeland Dairies board.
27-year-old Aisling Neville was appointed to the board of Lakeland Dairies recently, following a keenly contested election. She is the first female board member.
Ms Neville, who grew up in Co Offaly but runs a 150-cow dairy herd in Moate, Co Westmeath which she took on at just 22 years old, said it was her experience on the Lakeland Dairies regional committee that encouraged her to go further.
"I didn’t see too many young people or women involved at board level. I believe we need both younger and older members on a board to get a balanced opinion," Ms Neville said.
"I have a strong background in farming, the science behind it, as well as the financial and business end of it.
"You need to have good people around a table to drive a business forward and make good decisions. So why not me?"
Now an elected board member for the five-year term, Ms Neville said she will do "all she can to support the farmers in her area and representing them at the board table".
"My number one concern will always be the farmers who supply the co-op and maximising the milk price for them. I’m here to represent farmers, I will listen to their concerns and support them in any way I can," Ms Neville said.
With a first-class honours degree in agricultural science, experience on an 800-cow farm in Victoria, Australia, along with a lifelong involvement on her family dairy farm in Co Offaly, Ms Neville felt it was time to embark on her own adventure too.
"I knew I was going to stay in the dairy sector, because I have always loved dairy cows, breeding them, showing them, and milking them. So, leasing my own place was the right thing to do, even if I was only 22," she said.
Once she had the farm up and running well, she was then in a place to go for the board position.
"I was voted in by my local farmers who are mainly men. That says to me that there is no need for gender quotas in agricultural organisations. What there is a need for is encouragement for young girls and women to get involved in farm organisations.
"I don’t want to be segregated as a woman in farming, I want us to play by the same rules and intensity as male farmers, because we are well able, and I think I have proven that."
