Special Awards

Producer of the Year
Gold award - Tim and Jo Budden of Higher Hacknell Farm, Devon

Tim and Jo Budden of Higher Hacknell Farm in Devon won the Organic Producer of the Year gold award. Phil Stocker, Head of Food & Farming at the Soil Association, who was one of the judges in this award category, commented that the Buddens' adopt a holistic attitude and a thorough and detailed approach to the management involved.

Tim and Jo Budden's organic farm is a shining example of a long standing and well established family organic farm that continually strives to meet the principles of organic food and farming. Over recent years they have further expanded their product ranges and developed new facilities for adding value to their superb organic produce - improving the financial stability of the business and creating new employment opportunities locally. This is a great example of a family farm with an outstanding level of business, environmental, and social awareness.
» Higher Hacknell Farm

Best Local Food Initiative
Joint gold award winners - Alan Brown of Bolton Primary Care Trust and Roy Heath of Cornwall Food Programme

Highland Spring Natural Mineral Water Local Food Initiative of the Year joint winner, Alan Brown of Bolton Primary Care Trust, was applauded by Lynda Brown for his voluntary local food scheme. Masterminded by a small group of dedicated organic gardeners, Alan Brown and his colleagues encourage their local community to develop their own local food initiative. Working with the local community they find the land to grow the food on, organise training and help with funding applications. They organise cooking classes, have set up a resource centre, and have received funding for 10 schools to set up their own kitchen gardens for the children.

In 1999, Mike Pearson (the other Highland Spring Natural Mineral Water Local Food Initiative of the Year winner), then catering manager for the Royal Cornwall Hospital, felt strongly that the quality of the food in the Cornwall National Health Service needed improving. Together with his colleagues Roy Heath and Nathan Harrow, the Cornwall Food Programme was set up. They switched to new local milk, cheese, sandwiches and ice cream suppliers and adopted creative solutions to provide 2000 meals a day on a meagre budget. They promote local organic box schemes and have recently opened their own small shop selling organic produce for staff and visitors.

Awards judge and food writer Lynda Brown commented, "The Cornwall Food Programme is a role model for showing that even within an inflexible monolithic structure such as the NHS, it is possible to achieve positive, sustainable, food changes, within budget. The new shop is a great way to make organic food accessible."
» Bolton Primary Care Trust
» Cornwall Food Programme

Box Scheme of the Year
Gold award - Amanda Goddard of Spring Grove Market Garden, Somerset

Amanda Goddard of Spring Grove Market Garden, Milverton, Somerset, won the gold award for the delicious. Box Scheme of the Year. At Spring Grove they grow 95% of the produce for their boxes on three acres of land where they have planted hedges, native, fruit and nut trees, set up a beehive and keep 50 laying hens.

Their co-operative business is very creative and experimental and they delight in growing heritage varieties and unusual vegetables such as purple beans, yellow courgettes, and rainbow chard, and are increasingly enhancing their boxes with beautiful cut flowers. The business is very small scale, supplying 80 customers each week within a four-mile radius and they are working to balance commercial viability with fostering their role in the community and sustainable, ethical, low impact living.

The judges remarked that all this year's entries to the Box scheme of the Year were of an extremely high standard, the quality and variety of the produce was inspiring. All the gold, silver and bronze award winners are providing their local communities with delicious, affordable, truly fresh seasonal organic produce grown on farms just a few miles from their customers homes with minimal environmental impact.
T: 07956 429531

Organic Trophy
Will and Hilary Chester-Master, Abbey Home Farm, Gloucestershire

Patrick Holden, Soil Association director commented on the winners of the Organic Trophy, "For twenty years, Will and Hilary Chester-Master have committed their lives to building and developing a diverse and truly sustainable farming system, selling their products to local people and opening their farm to the public, particularly the next generation. It is so right that their work is being honoured in this way."
» Abbey Home Farm

Product Awards

Over 100 gold, silver and bronze awards will be presented to individual organic products. Ten awards will be made to products supplied by Waitrose (crimini mushrooms, muesli, tikka grill and Mexican pate, among other products). Clayton Farm in East Sussex will be honoured with seven awards for their meat, eggs and honey products.

Multi-award winning cook and Organic Food Awards judge Sophie Grigson said, "Judging the Soil Association Organic Food Awards enables me to learn so much about what makes particular products the best of their kind. Tasting 16 joints of roast pork is not the easiest of tasks, but it was worth the queasiness to discover a pork loin that not only tasted exemplary, had crackling that epitomised the perfect crisp crackling, but also looked incredibly appetising. We were all incredibly surprised and bowled over by the taste and originality of Fresh Daisy Organics winning pear and parsnip ice-cream."
» Full list of winners [PDF, 94 KB]