June 22, 2011

 
Black Earth demotes CEO in latest management reshuffle

Black Earth Farming demoted its chief executive in its latest management reshuffle, and hired the head of one of the UK's top farming businesses.

Following a slide in its shares since unveiling disappointing results, Black Earth said that acting chief executive Sture Gustavsson would return to his role as chief agronomist, after two-and-a-half years in that role.

He will be replaced by Richard Warburton, an appointee on the board of Kinnevik, the Swedish investment company which owns nearly 25% of Black Earth.

Warburton, who has been acting as chief operating officer since the beginning of the year, will be succeeded in this Russian-based role by Fraser Scott, head of arable and food operations at Co-operative Farms and a member of the UK's Potato Council.

Co-operative Farms, which operates over more than 50,000 acres of UK land, is one of the country's biggest farm operators, and three years ago named Scott its employee of the year.

"Black Earth Farming is continuously enhancing its operational execution, and this is an additional step to broaden the management team and develop the company further towards the goal of becoming a world-class crop-growing business," Black Earth chairman Per Brilioth said.

He added that Gustavsson remained a "crucial part of the business".

However, the shake-up follows a series of disappointing results at Black Earth, in part because of last year's devastating drought in Russia, but also more recently after a strategy of holding on to grain, in the hope of higher prices late in 2010-11, back-fired.

Black Earth is one of Russia's biggest farm operators, with control of more than 300,000 hectares of land.