Bert Stewart has decided not to seek a place on Michael Hanley’s new board at Lakeland Dairies.

The brother of Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys, Stewart has been around the upper echelons of IFA power over the past decade.

He had been widely expected to be one of the eight from the current LacPatrick board of 15 to go forward for the new board. However, I hear he is set to join up with the board of the growers who supply Monaghan Mushrooms.

LacPatrick’s Andrew McConkey, Keith Agnew and Robert Skelton are set to be shoo-ins on the new board.