Robert honoured for his service to agriculture
Published at 13:35, Thursday, 07 August 2008
A JOURNALIST from Tynedale who started his career as a farming specialist on the Hexham Courant, has been made a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies.
Robert Forster (61) also worked for the Farmers’ Guardian and on BBC agricultural programmes before spending nine years as chief executive of the National Beef Association. The award is given when “continuing service to the industry is judged to be of high merit”.
It was presented to Robert by Lord Salisbury, pictured left, at the Royal Show in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.
Robert, who is originally from Slaley but has also lived at Kiln Pit Hill and Riding Mill, started at the Courant in 1980 as a general reporter.
He was asked to chose a specialism and – with a long-running interest in agriculture – selected farming over sport.
After only 15 months on the newspaper, the Farmers’ Guardian spotted his talents and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
He became correspondent for the North of England, and soon built up a specialism in an area farming writers have a tendency to shy away from.
“I had always delved into markets,” he recalled. “I always wanted to know what was moving a market.
“As a result of that I was doing a lot of price reporting – milk markets, livestock – and I came to see I could make a living freelancing in that area.”
While continuing to work for the Farmers’ Guardian, he took up the role of livestock correspondent for the BBC’s Farming Today and made regular appearances on the Sunday morning programme On Your Farm.
From 1990 he worked as a freelance, writing occasionally under the pseudonym, Matt Ridley, until being appointed the first chief executive of the Hexham-based National Beef Association in 1998.
During his tenure, he experienced the “hugely demanding” time of the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak, when he was required to attend numerous meetings in London.
Robert, who lives in Rochester, stepped down from the NBA last August.
Published by http://www.hexhamcourant.co.uk
