National Farmers Union elects first female president

She doesn't have a crystal ball on her farm in Wiltshire but back in 2011 Minette Batters made a prediction.

She wrote in her local newspaper that within the next two decades there would be a female president of the National Farmers Union and a female jockey would win the Grand National.

Well, it has taken her just seven years to reach the day when she was able to chalk off one of those goals.

She has won the NFU presidency in a ballot at their conference in Birmingham on Wednesday afternoon.

She has become the first female president in the organisation's 110-year history.

Before she was elected, she told Sky News: "I like to think farming is all about men and women, most businesses have men and women involved in them so I don't see it as any big issue.

"We have got colleges now with many more women coming through wanting to be the farmers of the future.

"But it is not about men and women, it is about both, and having our voices heard."

She farms 300 acres in the picturesque Avon Valley in Wiltshire with cattle, sheep and weddings thrown into the mix in her restored 17th century barns.

As co-founder of Ladies in Beef - a group of female beef farmers formed to promote British beef - she was one of the driving forces behind Great British Beef Week and has risen through the ranks of the NFU from grassroots member to her current role of vice president.

Taking the helm at such a critical time, with Brexit looming, she is determined to redefine the sector’s relationship with Government.

"There is a clear need for the Government to start taking food seriously," she said.

"We are an island nation, 65 million people and growing in a very very volatile world so why would we not be taking food seriously?"

With so much on her plate she will leave the Grand National to somebody else.