RABI CEO recognised for services to UK agriculture

Paul Burrows, chief executive of the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (R.A.B.I), has been advanced to the Fellowship of the Royal Agricultural Societies for his outstanding contribution to UK agriculture.

Paul, who lives on Dartmoor, just outside Plymouth, attended an official reception at the House of Lords and was presented with his certificate by HRH Countess of Wessex. The reception was hosted by Baroness Byford.

The Fellowship of Royal Agricultural Societies is coordinated by CARAS (the Council for Awards of Royal Agricultural Societies). There are two categories of awards, Associateship (ARAgS) and the more senior award of Fellowship (FRAgS).

Paul studied at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester before beginning his career with Nat West Bank in 1983. By 2001, he was a senior agricultural manager responsible for managing 250 businesses in Devon and Cornwall. Around the same time he also took on running the family farm in Devon. Paul left the bank in 2001 and became Bursar for St Dunstan’s Abbey School in Plymouth, where he was instrumental in overseeing the merger with Plymouth College. He became R.A.B.I’s chief executive in 2006.

R.A.B.I is farming’s oldest welfare charity, providing grants to farming people in financial hardship.  In 2015, R.A.B.I paid out £1.9m across England and Wales to 1,340 individuals and families and helped people claim more than £390k in state benefits. More than £111k was paid out in Devon alone in 2015.

Paul said: “Many in the modern farming world struggle through no fault of their own and their problems can be complex, but R.A.B.I makes a difference to the lives of farming people every day.

“It was a great honour to accept this award on behalf of R.A.B.I as a whole, in recognition of the work done by our tremendous staff, volunteers and supporters.”