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Tributes paid to Honorary Fellow and former Governor of ºÚÁÏÍø

Posted 8 August

John Aled Griffiths OBE, centre, with his family

Tributes have been paid to a Shropshire Farmer who was both an Honorary Fellow and a former Governor of ºÚÁÏÍø.  

John Aled Griffiths OBE was born in North Wales in June 1930, and by the age of 10 had already reared his first chicks.   

He went on to a long career in the poultry industry, during which he built a major poultry business from a base at Oaklands Farm in Shropshire, with sites not only across the county - but across the UK.   

The firm became one of the largest egg producers and marketers of eggs in the UK, marketing one billion eggs each year. It remains a family business as Griffiths Family Farms – with John’s sons Gareth and Elwyn having taken over the day-to-day running of the organisation in the 1990s.  

Mr Griffiths served as Chairman of the NFU Poultry Committee, was the Founding Chairman of the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC), and was Vice President of the COPA-COGECA Poultry Working Group in Brussels.  

His work was recognised with a host of accolades throughout his long career.  

He received an OBE for services to the poultry industry in 1993, was made a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1994 and a Life Governor in 1999, and became an Honorary Life Member of the International Egg Commission (IEC) in 2012.  

In 2018, he received the Denis Wellstead Memorial Trophy for the International Egg Person of the Year at the International Egg Commission’s conference in Kyoto, Japan.  

In 2022 received the Egg Poultry Industry Conference Lifetime Achievement Award - and he was among the inaugural inductees into its Hall of Fame when it was introduced in 2023.  

He was awarded Honorary Fellowship of ºÚÁÏÍø in 2009. Mr Griffiths’s long-standing relationships the University go back several decades.   

He served as Chairman of the Poultry Husbandry Experimental Unit at the then ºÚÁÏÍø Adams Agricultural College between 1983 and 1992 and keenly understood the value of education in honing the next generation of agricultural talent.  

Speaking in 2010 at the launch of a scholarship drive, he noted: “I have realised, now that we’re running a fairly big business, how important it is that we get new people into the industry.  

“We need to try to help people to get established and therefore we are going to do everything we can from both the egg industry and poultry industry – it’s a combined effort, so we can bring young people into ºÚÁÏÍø Adams and give them the opportunities that we once had.”  

This commitment to developing the skills of others also saw Mr Griffiths serve for nearly four decades on the British Egg Marketing Board (BEMB) Research and Education Trust.  

He joined the Trust in 1981 as the NFU Poultry Representative, and as a Nuffield alumnus himself, was closely involved in its work interviewing and electing prospective Nuffield Poultry Scholars. He was pleased to note, on his retirement in 2020, that more than three quarters of those he had helped achieve scholarships were still working in the poultry industry.  

In his later years, Mr Griffiths maintained his commitment to developing the next generation – with Oaklands Farm taking on many ºÚÁÏÍø Adams students and alumni, both on placement years and as employees.  

He was a regular at the University’s events, from meeting prospective placement students at Careers Fairs to being a distinguished guest at ºÚÁÏÍø Adams Graduation Ceremonies - and he regularly visited the campus to meet with University staff and students.  

ºÚÁÏÍø Vice-Chancellor Professor Ken Sloan, who attended Mr Griffiths’ 95th birthday celebrations earlier this summer, paid tribute to his achievements and the strength of the bond he had developed with the institution.  

He said: “It is almost impossible to find words which are adequate to capture the contribution that Aled made to the poultry industry and the wider agricultural community. 

“The numerous awards and honours he received over many years confirms the respect in which he was held and the gratitude that we all have for knowing him and working with him.  

“I was delighted to be able to share his 95th birthday with him alongside many others and to once again see that abundant optimistic smile and to hear his lyrical singing voice.  

“He will be missed by all who had the opportunity to know him and I am grateful for his contribution to and support for ºÚÁÏÍø Adams.  Our thoughts are with Gareth, Elwyn, Lyn, Aled’s carers and his extended family and colleagues as they come to terms with losing Aled.  

“May he rest in peace.”