An entrepreneurial farmer who is helping his family business to diversify while also leading the county’s young farming organisation has been crowned North East young farmer of the year.
Edward Dungait took the trophy at the North East Rural Awards 2019 before a crowd of more than 200 of his peers, with his young farmer counterparts – and rivals for the trophy – giving the biggest cheer of the night
The 26-year-old, of Lough House Farm near Morpeth, is now heavily involved in his family farm, where he is gelping the business to diversify and become more sustainable, while also working hard to create a social hub for young farmers across the county.
He is a member of the Tritlington YFC and chairman of the Northumberland Young Farmers’ Federation, and he used his speech to appeal to the business community to get involved.
He said: “This means the world. I honestly thought I had no chance of winning.
“I work on the farm to make money and go to the federation to make friends. It sounds corny but it’s true. In the community you just want to meet people and new contacts and have a good time. And the young farmers’ club is the best thing I’ve ever been involved in. We hold competitions, organise social events and trips and work on education projects to build skills.
“It’s all about building confidence. When I was young I was really very shy, but I’m not now – that’s why I’m telling everyone to join the young farmers’ club. It’s the best thing they’ll ever do.”
His award was the last to be presented at the event, held at Kirkley Hall in Ponteland. A total of nine awards were presented on the night, which shines a light on the rural heroes in the North East, recognising the stars of the region’s countryside start-ups, farms, agri-businesses, food and drink, and tourism businesses.
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Northumberland farming legend Stoker Frater was singled out with a lifetime achievement award, having been heavily involved with the NFU for most of his life.
The farmer, now 68, is a former chairman of Northumberland NFU, and is renowned for his positive attitude, championing the region’s rural community.
Accepting the award, he said: “I really enjoyed my time with the NFU and met some really interesting people.
“We’ve got to be positive. As someone has already said here at the awards tonight, people get sick to death of hearing people talk about a farming crisis.
“I used to get wrong for being positive – but how can you be put down for talking up the area?”
George Dodds, founder and owner of George Dodds & Co won the agri-business award. He has been offering expert advice on the management of land and the natural environment for 25 years.
He said: “When I started out 25 years ago it was all about ponds and hedges - now it covers everything from soils to pollution.
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“It’s just a two-manned organisation but I make more than 100 farm visits a year and my colleague Anna does the same so we’re fairly busy, covering something like 120-150 clients.
“Winning this award is very prestigious and it’s lovely that there are people out there who think I’m doing a good job.”
Pip Robson took the rural diversification award for his business Northumberland Pellet Co, which he first started working on five years ago.
He said: “We commissioned the plant two years ago in March but it took me a year to get it established and do my market research. I’m a farmer and I love my farming but I wanted to add value to the business and wanted to get involved in the biomass industry. Now it’s actually the pet, equine and poultry market which are big customers, it’s amazing.”
Sam Smith, director at Shepherds Huts Ltd in Beadnell - winner of the tourism and hospitality award - said: “This has been a brilliant day - we found out earlier that we’d got a gold award from Visit England and we recently got a silver award from green tourism.
“We’ve had the huts since March and just love them. The family also runs holiday cottages but we had a bit of land and wondered what we could do with it, that would be something for the environment, and decided on shepherds huts which would be eco-friendly. One of North East tourism’s plans is to bring in people out of season for shorter stays – and you can do just that in our huts.”
Neill Maxwell, owner and director at Doddington Dairy, won the artisan food and drink prize.
He said: “It’s wonderful to be recognised by the great people of the North East for the things that we do. This award is all the more special when so many other people are up there for the same award who are equally deserving.
“I think there’s a remarkable number of quality producers in Northumberland – a lot more than you think – and we live in a very turbulent economy with a lot of uncertainty, so you can’t help but marvel at the resilience of Northumbrian people.”
John Goodfellow of Goodfellow & Co triumphed in the rural training and apprenticeship category for a second year running. He said: “I’ve got a large farming businesses and have great staff, but know that training is an issue – so I really enjoy having the young chaps coming through. The youth is the future and it also helps the older ones.”
SDS Livestock’s founder Sarah Devlin Stafford, won the best rural start-up award with her year-old business SDS Livestock.
She said: “When I got made redundant in January of last year I thought about looking into getting financial support but in the end I just wanted to do this myself, for myself, so I started from nothing and it’s been brilliant.”
Michael Leyland, of farming and envrionment award winners BJC Smalley and Co, said: “We think outside the box and try to go down a more sustainable route of farming, trying to reduce artificial input and keep a stronger bottom line.
“My dad Hugh and I have been doing this for two to three years now but we’re also helping others now too, which is actually quite exciting. People are slowly coming on the same line as us.”
The awards, organised by The Journal and The Chronicle, were backed by associate sponsor Northumberland College, and category sponsors Hay & Kilner, Northumberland National Park, Advance Northumberland and NFU Mutual.