Progressive farming & community sustainability awards
4th January 2010The Devon County Agricultural Association (DCAA) is looking to recognise and encourage green community projects, progressive farmers and the salt of the Devonshire earth, in its re-focused awards schemes.
Entries are invited now for three awards, to be presented at next year’s Devon County Show, which is staged by the DCAA, on May 20 to 22. The closing date for entries is February 26, 2010.
The Prince of Wales Award is aimed at rural community organisations which are helping to build local sustainability through initiatives such as communal composting, vegetable growing and floral decorations.
By contrast, the John Neason Award for Progressive Farming is targeted at farmers in Devon who have found exciting and innovative ways of improving their businesses, either by collaboration with other farmers, or through new productivity-boosting techniques, or through developing new enterprises such as on-farm food processing, farm tourism projects or the conversion of redundant buildings.
And the DCAA Long Service Awards will continue to be presented to recognise the long and devoted service put in by the county’s agricultural and horticultural workforce.
Mervyn Hosking, Chief Executive of the DCAA, said: “One of the prime purposes of the Devon County Show is to encourage and highlight innovation and good practice, not only in farming, but in the rural community more widely.
“Our awards schemes are vitally important in this context, and we are re-focusing them so that they match the priorities for Devon’s rural community in the 21st century. On the farm, the challenge is to produce more food, more efficiently, with a smaller environmental footprint but without losing the structure of family farms which is so important to Devon.
“Hence the broadening of the scope of the John Neason Award to include collaborative projects between farmers, and new techniques for boosting productivity, as well as imaginative farm diversification.
“But communities also have a vital role to play in finding sustainable solutions to issues like waste disposal, reducing food miles and cutting carbon emissions. Devon is one of the leading counties in this respect, and we want both to highlight what is being done already, and encourage other communities to get involved.
“We have therefore re-focused the Prince of Wales Award so as to highlight projects being led by community organisations, schools and local partnerships designed to achieve greater sustainability at a local level.”
Schemes that might qualify for the Prince of Wales Award include Transition Town initiatives, community composting and the development of allotments for grow your own vegetables.
The sort of ideas that the John Neason Award is intended to recognise would include machinery sharing, sustainable farm waste disposal and new systems for improving farm productivity and soil fertility.
The Long Service Awards will, as previously, recognise the unsung heroes of the Devon countryside: the men and women who have devoted their working lifetimes to producing food and caring for livestock on the county’s farms and working in horticulture.
Ends
Notes to editors:
- The Prince of Wales Award – the winner receives a framed certificate and a cash prize of £1,000 from His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales which the winning group must use to further their community initiatives.
- The John Neason Award – the winner receives £750 and the runner-up £250. The Award was set up in memory of Devon County Land Agent John Neason, a partner of Colvilles and Honorary Land Agent to the Devon County Agricultural Association (DCAA). It is sponsored by Mrs Barbara Neason, the Devon County Council Farms Estate Service, the Western Counties Agricultural Valuers Association and the DCAA.
- The Long Service Awards – the longest serving employee receives £50, the second £30 and the third £20; other winners receive tankards and certificates.
