Ffermwr organig blaenllaw yn dod yn Gymrawd y Cymdeithasau Amaethyddol Brenhinol
Mid Wales farmer Bob Kennard whose pioneering work in organic food production and collaborative marketing has inspired hundreds of others to follow his lead has been made an Associate of the Royal Agricultural Societies.
In 1988, after working for some years in agriculture in Africa, he and his wife Carolyn, established Graig Farm Organics initially ‘to recapture the lost taste of real chicken’ using extensive production methods but with no drugs, additives or artificial lighting and employing the highest animal welfare systems.
They set up their farm as organic and their product was launched successfully in the Food Hall at the 1989 Royal Welsh Show.
Because they soon needed to extend the range of meats reared in this way they looked for other organic producers and quickly built up a group of 20 to 30 organic farmers producing beef, sheep and pigs. By 2009 several thousand organic products were available through Graig Farm Organics which won many awards for quality including 25 Organic Food, Great Taste, and Welsh True Taste awards and also an award for the best mail order service. The grouping developed into Graig Producers which now has 350 members covering Wales and the Borders and subsequently the formation of Graig Producers South West, covering the west country, and Caledonian Organics, a livestock marketing co-op in Scotland managed by Graig Producers. The organisation now has around 700 members supplying supermarkets and other outlets and a turnover of £8m.
Mr Kennard of Graig Farm, Dolau, Llandrindod Wells, is a member of the newly-formed Organic Trade Board and chairman of the Organic Beef and Sheep Development Group, a sector-wide body to determine the numbers of organic livestock which will be available to the market.
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