James North PMIAgrM CEnv

James North PMIAgrM CEnv

Members join the Institute for different reasons and with different expectations.  In each issue we ask someone how membership benefits them.  Recently, we caught up with James North, a rural Chartered Surveyor and Director of North & Letherby based in South Gloucestershire.

Why did you decide to join the Institute?

Being an agriculture graduate from Seale Hayne and with a family farming background, my passion is farming and the agricultural industry.  While the industry is tending to become more specialised, I am keen to maintain a broad spectrum of knowledge to help me in my daily job. 

I believe we are on the cusp of an agricultural revolution and moving forward there will be some exciting opportunities.  I like that the Institute is a professional organisation with a unique place at the forefront of the industry, which can assist me by offering grounded and focused CPD to complement the more specific CPD I get from the other professional organisations.

Is there anything specific which will be important?

I was particularly pleased to achieve Chartered Environmentalist status through the Institute and I see this as a growing area of professional practice.  Many organisations are raising awareness of this subject, however, to my knowledge the Institute is the first to actively do something to promote a formal qualification within the agricultural sector and I believe they should be commended for this.

Looking to the future, I believe we are moving into an era when some land will be managed environmentally through specific arrangements such as the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELM), with other land managed for food production.  Farmers and land managers will be required to be able to balance both these activities and being a Chartered Environmentalist will demonstrate the necessary professional and technical qualification required to administrate such land management appropriately.

Finally, I am also looking forward to attending future networking events when circumstances allow!