The new chief executive of the National Farmers' Union of

Scotland is to be Ed Rainy Brown who for the past 14 years has carried out that role for the Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS).

The announcement was made yesterday by union president George Lyon.

He said Brown had been the unanimous choice to succeed Tom Brady who resigned last December when it became clear that his opposition to direct action was out of line with the feeling of many members.

The president made it clear that the role of the chief executive had been re-defined, with less influence on policy-making and a stronger emphasis on the management of policy as determined by the office-bearers and the general purposes committee.

The appointment was only the beginning of a process of change at the union, he said. ''If we fail to face up to the hard decisions required of us the prospect for the union is long-term terminal decline.''

Brown, 48, will assume his new post within the next five weeks and shortly after that the union expects to publish details of its planned re-structuring arising out of the work of the development group which was launched under former vice-president Stewart Whiteford.

That report will have to address problems of declining membership, reduced financial income and ever greater demands for service from the union because of the crisis facing all sectors of the industry.

Brown said he appreciated that he came the the NFUS at a difficult time when the need for an effective union was greater than it had ever been.

''There is a big job ahead which I relish the opportunity of tackling. There is a tremendous resource of people - here in head office and out in the field.

''My experience in SAOS has been one of managing change, helping people to move from where they are now to where it has been decided they want to be in the future.

''At the end of the day we must have a professional and effective union which delivers the results the industry requires - and that requires management.''

Brown, whose family originally farmed in Speyside, graduated in forestry at Aberdeen University in 1972. He worked in private forestry and timber processing and then spent eight years in the farm supply trade before joining SAOS as chief executive in 1984.

He is a director of Scottish Food Quality Certification, a member of the council of the

Federation of Agricultural

Co-operatives (UK) and vice-chairman of the board of trustees of the Plunkett Foundation for

Co-operative Studies in Oxford.