Britain's most powerful farmer says dad would be shocked a woman's leading the NFU

Minette didn't expect to lead the country's biggest farming union. Credit: ITV West Country

Minette Batters is the first female President of the National Farmers' Union in its 111-year history.

This arguably makes her the most powerful farmer in the UK; she is the voice of the union's 55,000 members and helps to shape government agricultural policy.

But her journey to the top of a male-dominated industry was not straightforward. Although Minette runs a 300-acre tenant farm at Downton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, her father had not wanted her to take it over, and tried to put her off farming.

Minette had to prove to her father first that she was determined to work in agriculture. Credit: ITV West Country

But Minette persuaded her father's landlords that she was capable of taking the farm on after he retired.

Today it is a thriving business, with an added wedding and catering arm in one of the barns. Minette runs it all largely on her own; her husband works in another industry and her two teenage children are still at school.

But despite her success, people took a while to get used to the idea of a woman farmer.

It's the first time the male dominated industry has been led by a woman. Credit: ITV West Country

Today, women make up the majority of students on many agricultural courses. And with a female union leader too, perhaps in future there will be less confusion about who the boss is.