Committee Members • Charles Abel
“ Enjoying meeting interesting members from farming backgrounds from all over the UK” Anthony Snell, Herefordshire
ANTHONY SNELL is a soft fruit grower from Pencoyd Court Farm and Windmill Hill Fruits Ltd near Hereford, who has twice been awarded UK Soft Fruit Grower of the Year.
obtain tickets for the London Olympics! Privileged to be asked to join the Club’s General Committee he now sits on the Membership Sub-Committee.
The LEAF demonstration farm is involved with the NFU ELMS Net Zero test and trials and was visited by The Farmers Club during its Tour of Herefordshire in 2017.
His love of the Club stems from its wonderful location, and the enjoyment of meeting interesting members from farming backgrounds from all over the UK. The accommodation, Terrace, bar facilities and Restaurant are excellent and well worth visiting and enjoying for work or pleasure, he says.
Anthony is a Director of the co-operative Berry Gardens Ltd, Chairman of NFU West Midlands Horticultural Board (also on National Horticultural Board) and is Herefordshire representative of NFU Mutual, ex-President of the International Blackcurrant Association and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers. He has been a Club Member since 2012 joining when the family was fortunate to
He is interested in national and international travel (post Covid), visits to UK farming businesses, and tennis and golf. He is married to Christine, with two sons, James (an Under 30s Member) and Jonathan.
Club member Mark Dewes of Withybrook near Coventry, Warwickshire, was awarded Arable Adviser of the Year for his work optimising farm returns through an innovative approach, bespoke advice and forward-thinking agronomy. James Small
MEMBERS FEATURE AT
Mark Dewes
Club member James Small of Warren Farm near Bristol, Somerset was a finalist in the Mixed Farmer of The Year Award. He is a fourth-generation partner in a business that includes sustainable lowinput beef and sheep, glamping, hosting weddings and providing film venues in the Mendip Hills.
Farmers Weekly Awards As a new Farmers Club Committee member and finalist in the 2020 Farmers Weekly Awards I was pleased to check through the Club Membership and complement those who were finalists and winners of the 2020 online awards this February, writes Anthony Snell. All finalists had the Farmers Weekly Judges make a thorough three hour visit last August/ September, subject to social distancing and carefully planned COVID-19 measures. The Club Patron Her Majesty the Queen’s eldest son, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, won the Lifetime Achievement Award for decades of commitment to agriculture, the countryside, and the environment. The Duchy of Cornwall Estate passionately supports its many farming tenants and the Prince’s Countryside Fund has provided over £10m to support rural communities over the past 10 years.
The final Club member involved was myself, with my wife Christine, as finalists in the Farmers Weekly Diversification of the Year Award. We grow soft fruit for high end retailers through our cooperative Berry Gardens, as well as conventional and organic blackcurrants. The diversification aspect has been to freeze fruit to manage the supply chain, reduce waste, and offer year-round employment, with the latest success being our online BritishFrozenFruits. Congratulations to all – and good luck to Farmers Club members in the 2021 Awards. It is nice to enter, rewarding to be a finalist, or better still a winner…!
“It is nice to enter, rewarding to be a finalist, or better still a winner…!” “The Club Patron Her Majesty the Queen’s eldest son, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, won the Lifetime Achievement Award for decades of commitment to agriculture, the countryside, and the environment.”
See: www.fwi.co.uk/ms/events/farmersweekly-awards/
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