A RURAL consultant from Cumbria is the new national president of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV).

Michael Mashiter of North West Auctions Junction, 36 Rural Auction Centre, near Milnthorpe, was elected at the annual meeting in Grantham last Friday.

A rural valuer, surveyor and auctioneer, he lives near Kirkby Lonsdale and has worked throughout the north of England for almost 53 years.

Mr Mashiter said his election was a tremendous honour.

“It is always rewarding to receive recognition from within your own profession,” he said.

He is looking forward to the year ahead. “We will be dealing with the potential complexities of the 2015 Common Agricultural Policy as it reaches its implementation phase.

“We will also be involved in a wide range of rural issues from fracking to possible farm tenancy law changes, tax and planning policy and we will be providing advice in China as it develops a rural land market.”

A farmer’s son, with farming ancestors on both sides, and one of five boys in a family of six, his entry into the profession was decided when he was 11 years old.

He was told he would become an auctioneer as there was no room on the farm for all the family, but readily admitting to thoroughly enjoying a career spanning five decades, this was a good decision.

He has seen many changes over the years – whole farm sales have increased from £150 an acre to £10,000 an acre plus, and the extensive importation of beef breeds from the continent, such as Charolais and Limousin.

Mr Mashiter said: “The use of Holstein Dairy Cattle means average production has risen from 1000 gallons per year to 2000 plus gallons.

Farming has changed beyond recognition.”

His career started as a trainee agricultural auctioneer and valuer at Bentham in 1961 with Messrs Richard Turner & Son.

He qualified as a chartered surveyor and as a Fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers in 1971 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1982.

He has been an Agricultural Arbitrator since 1992 and is currently chairman of the rural arm of the Agricultural Law Association and ARBRIX, an arbitrations and dispute resolution body.

He joined The Kendal & District Auction Mart (now the L & K Group) in 1982, and is a director of M B Hodgson & Son Ltd, which now trades as NWA Professional and Property, where he is their consultant.

The CAAV has 2,500 members in England, Wales and Scotland.