Nick Kirby has been appointed as Managing Director of Meat and Livestock Commercial Services Ltd (MLCSL), the commercially trading, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).

Nick, who has a track record of managing business growth, will take up the new position on

1 September. He will lead the business in providing commercial data, advice, logistics and inspection services to the meat and livestock industry, generating profits to supplement AHDB

levy funds invested in home agriculture and horticulture.

With 25 years’ experience of the agriculture sector, Nick has been managing director at farm co-operative CWG Ltd, John Deere Forestry Ltd (UK and Ireland) and Same Deutz-Fahr Ltd (UK and Ireland) the UK subsidiary of Europe’s largest tractor manufacturer. He has also held senior roles with Garden Organic and the Massey Ferguson Group.

MLCSL Chairman and AHDB Chief Executive, Tom Taylor said “In Nick Kirby we have someone who’s steeped in the agriculture sector, has a significant and impressive amount of commercial experience, has managed sizeable workforces and brings formidable attention to customer needs and satisfaction”.

The independent carcase classification service provided by MLCSL now accounts for 90% of total British slaughtering of cattle, 82% of pigs and 68% of sheep. It also delivers training events at abattoirs and auction markets on behalf of the EBLEX ‘Better Returns Programme’ in England and for the HCC programme in Wales, helping farmers to achieve the best possible sale price for their livestock and processors to get optimum quality meat.

The MLCSL team offers an auditable stun process for abattoirs (a legal requirement from 2013), CCTV systems to help them monitor animal welfare, humane slaughter and food hygiene and launched the first web-enabled data capture system for abattoir refrigeration. Its consultancy team can help design new abattoirs, cutting plants and farm shops, while expertise is also on hand for beef export supply chains – on fifth quarter products, spinal cord splitting, food packaging and infrared spectroscopy.

Nick replaces Peter Phythian who left MLCSL earlier this summer.

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