This year’s competition, now into its eighth year, as usual attracted some very high calibre candidates. However, the 2019 award has a very worthy winner in Aimee Mahony.
Aimee Mahony is 30 years of age and works at the NFU as Poultry Adviser covering England and Wales. Prior to joining the NFU in July 2016, Aimee worked at Noble Foods for four years. Initially starting on the Graduate Management Trainee programme Aimee’s hard work and dedication were rewarded with various promotions culminating in the position of Regional Contract Supplies Manager working with contract producers in Noble’s East Anglia region.
Outside of work Aimee is an ambassador for the Young Farmers’ Club where her many years of commitment culminated in the recent role of County Chairman for Leicestershire YFC.
Industry Comments
Tom Willings | Supply Chain Director, Stonegate
Aimee’s ability to connect with people, combined with a genuine enthusiasm for livestock and willingness to ‘roll her sleeves up’ to get stuck in were evident from day one. She quickly became a truly fantastic addition to the team at Noble Foods, learning incredibly quickly and earning the respect of farmers and colleagues alike. With her help, we launched a regular newsletter, EggExpress. Aimee was also instrumental in refining the farm auditing together with beta testing the equipment used on farm to conduct assessments.
Aimee put her gained experience to good use as a fully-fledged member of the regional management team, some 25 years younger than her peers! Aimee wholly delivered on her potential within our team, and we were all so proud to see her move on to a role in NFU where her talents could be put to such good use to the benefit of a wider audience. In short the best ‘young one’ I ever worked with.
Gary Ford | NFU Chief Poultry Adviser
I was delighted when Aimee joined the organisation as the NFU gained an individual who had worked at the ‘coal face’ with farmers. This practical knowledge is critical to the NFU as it gains credibility with our members and we can be more effective in influencing and articulating the impact of policy and policy changes to decision makers. Aimee’s contribution has been immense. She has raised the profile of the NFU attending numerous stakeholder meetings, speaking at various forums and conferences, helping members during AI as well as engaging with representatives of non-commercial poultry such as the Poultry Club of Great Britain.
Aimee has also produced various literature and consumer facing promotional material. She has been an absolute driving force on the Poultry Industry Programme – this has allowed her to demonstrate her passion for encouraging young people in the sector. Aimee is a shining role model for young people demonstrating what they can achieve in our sector.
Danny Johnson | Commercial Director, Compounds, ABN
Having worked with Aimee on the Poultry Industry Programme Committee I can say with confidence that she is one of the hardest working young people in our industry. Whether it be attending a regional turkey meeting on a wet Wednesday in Norfolk, writing interesting articles for the NFU magazine, presenting key note papers to industry at the Poultry Meat Conference or working with farmers and the PIP committee to agree plans for the future – she approaches everything that she does with integrity, a positive can-do attitude and a quiet authority.
Never afraid to get her hands dirty her friendly demeanour and understanding of our industry make her a great leader of the PIP programme and a fantastic role model to our next generation. She is a credit to the NFU and the poultry industry.
Paul Kelly | Turkey Farmer
Aimee is one in a million. Having worked with her for a few years now on NFU poultry board and also then touring the country at regional turkey marketing meetings I can give a well-informed reference. She is a totally committed professional who is up to speed with everything in her field. She is the backbone to our regional turkeys meetings ensuring everything is in hand and making sure presentations are perfectly pitched and giving farmers a very comprehensive overview of the market place and current issues. She has driven the marketing campaign for seasonal turkey farmers to include social media, the turkey finder web site as well as the Talking turkey educational resource.
Most importantly of all she is an absolute pleasure to work with. Her smiling enthusiasm is infectious. In short, she is probably perfect and I want her in our business!