FARMERS and land managers struggling with complex agricultural reforms and new regulations are seeking expert advice at unprecedented levels, says rural business leader Susan Cunliffe-Lister.

Speaking on her election as chairman of the Yorkshire branch of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), whose membership is now growing again for the first time in many years, she pledged individual case-related support and "lobbying that results in a lot of victories, not just a lot of noise".

Mrs Cunliffe-Lister, of Burton Agnes Hall, Driffield, East Yorkshire, is also a member of the CLA's national council and executive.

She manages an estate that includes farming and stud businesses and a historic home open to the public. An acclaimed plantswoman, she was voted Country Life magazine's Gardener of the Year 2001 and in 2003 her garden was in BBC TV's Gardeners' World viewers top ten.

More recently, she has restored the kitchen garden at the Cunliffe-Lister's ancestral home, Swinton Park, near Masham, North Yorkshire, now Yorkshire's highest-rated hotel and Hotel of the Year in 2004.

Elected vice-chairman of CLA Yorkshire was Mr George Winn-Darley of Hutton-le-Hole in the North York Moors, land agent for the Buttercrambe and Spaunton Estates.

He is a prominent member of the Moorland Association and chairman of the Local Access Forum for the North York Moors National Park.

Updated: 15:50 Wednesday, March 09, 2005