The Chair of the Responsible use of Medicines Alliance, Companion Animal & Equine (RUMA CA&E), Gwyn Jones, has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to animal health and welfare in the King’s New Years Honours List.
Gwyn has spent more than 30 years championing practical, industry-led progress on farm animal health and welfare, bridging hands-on livestock farming with national policy and strategy work and, more recently, has become involved in the companion animal and equine sector by chairing RUMA CA&E.
Brought up on a farm in North Wales, Gwyn has been based in West Sussex for more than 40 years where he ran a successful dairy farm for 30 years. He now runs a mixed enterprise with his daughter.
Reacting to the news of his award, Gwyn says: “It is a privilege and honour to have been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in The King’s New Year Honours List. I would never have expected this and was incredibly surprised. In everything that I do it’s always a team effort, and I have been fortunate to always have good people on my teams over the years.”
RUMA CA&E Secretary General, Steve Howard, says: “On behalf of everyone at RUMA CA&E we congratulate Gwyn on his award. Throughout his career Gwyn has dedicated his time to representing UK farming and more recently, this now includes the companion animal and equine sector. He was the inspiration and instigator behind the founding of RUMA CA&E, recognising that there was a need to co-ordinate and focus effort and resource, beyond farming and agriculture, on the important issue of AMR across companion animals too. The CA&E sectors had been focused on AMS for a number of years, but Gwyn recognised there was a need for an overarching ‘driving force’ to underpin the great work underway, consolidate effort and resource, and collate sector results in order to demonstrate the part the CA&E sectors play in achieving the national AMR strategy. This led to the creation of RUMA CA&E which ensures these sectors are also now being recognised for the contribution they are making towards the One Health response to AMR.
“Under Gwyn’s leadership, RUMA CA&E is now the ‘go to’ organisation on the responsible use of medicines in the companion animal and equine sectors with a current focus on antimicrobial stewardship and sustainable parasiticides use. The Alliance has recently launched the first ever set of national antimicrobial use targets for cats and dogs which marks a huge milestone.”
Gwyn was formerly the Chair of RUMA Agriculture (2013-2020) and now, in his role as Chair of RUMA CA&E, Gwyn has taken the insight from the agriculture sector’s incredible achievements in voluntarily reducing the use of antibiotics in livestock by 57% (through the creation of the RUMA Targets Task Force), and is translating those learnings and experiences to help facilitate and shape the AMS journey ahead for the CA&E sectors.
Alongside his own farming business Gwyn has held a myriad of positions over the years in his commitment as an advocate for UK farming, farmers, the sectors across the farming industry, and more recently representing the CA&E sectors. These roles have also been about driving innovations and promoting the highest standards of food safety, animal health and animal welfare.
Steve adds: “Gwyn consistently inspires through his leadership qualities and has an incredible way of bringing people and organisations together to achieve great outcomes – often in the face of challenges that may appear on the surface, far too difficult to tackle.”