NFU Cymru & Wynnstay Sustainable Agriculture Award

With spring here and farmers across Wales confidently shaking off any remaining winter frost, NFU Cymru and Wynnstay are beginning their search for the next Sustainable Agriculture Award winner.

Sponsored by Wynnstay Plc, the long-running Sustainable Agriculture Award is given to the farmers or farmers who can demonstrate; a commitment to the production of high-quality food to Wales’s world-leading standards; an involvement with the rural economy, rural communities and Welsh culture; a positive contribution to protecting, maintaining and enhancing the quality of their farmed environment. Previous winners have included livestock farmers preserving registered ancient cattle breeds, a multi-generational family farm incorporating new grassland species and rotational root crops, and an expanding farm shop offering a farm-to-shop-trail to educate members of the public on sustainable practices.

Sustainability is a word often used when describing the future direction of farming in Wales, not least during an election year, but farmers have been caring for the environment, producing the food we eat, and stewarding the land we live on in both the past and the present. For NFU Cymru, sustainability encompasses this unparalleled contribution farmers make to the economic, environmental, social and cultural well-being of Wales, and should be recognised at every opportunity.

From donating wool to local craft classes to providing fresh, safe milk to inner-city school children, winners of the NFU Cymru / Wynnstay Sustainable Agricultural Award are a highly-celebrated group of hardworking farmers and growers, many of which have gone on to represent Welsh agriculture in the media, take leading roles in industry campaigns and even act as the very best case studies for political stakeholders.

Judging will take place in late May/early June with the winner invited to attend NFU Cymru’s Sustainable Farming Conference in Abergavenny on June 30th where they will be presented with their award and the £500 prize. Entrants close on Monday 25th May.

Nominations are invited from all farms and/or farmers throughout Wales. Farmers are invited to nominate themselves or can be nominated by friends, relatives and organisations. Nomination forms are available on the NFU Cymru website. Alternatively, please contact the NFU Cymru office on 01982 554200 or email [email protected].