Farnsworth will leave Cranswick following nine years in the role.
Prior to his near decade at Cranswick, Farnsworth was with the William Jackson Food Group from 1965 to 2005. During this time he served in a number of directorial roles – including joint-md – at the owner of the Aunt Bessie brand.
First Milk ceo Kate Allum, who had been appointed as a non-executive director of Cranswick in May, joined the board in his place on July 1.
Cranswick said Allum had been selected to take on the role of independent non-executive director from a short list of candidates by independent advisor Norman Broadbent.
‘Broadens the expertise within the board’
In a statement, Cranswick said: “Kate brings operational experience of international food markets and broadens the expertise and experience within the board.”
She has held the role of chief executive at First Milk since 2010 – having joined the firm as group operations director a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Cranswick was described as “a best in class operator” with “a highly talented and effective management team”, by City analyst Shore Capital.
The analyst was commenting on Cranwick’s first-quarter trading results, which reported underlying turnover up by 10% in the three months to 30 June 2013, compared with same period last year.