Herb farmer Robert Wilson of supplier and grower Scotherbs has scooped top place in a BBC Radio 4 competition to find Farmer of the Year 2007, at an awards dinner in Birmingham last week.
The BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards 2007’s Farming Today Award celebrates the people and organisations working to promote good food in Britain. Nominations were invited for farmers who have risen to the challenges of farming in the 21st century, and who are inspirational to anyone interested in food production and the countryside.
Wilson took his company on a journey from dairy farming to herb growing 20 years ago, and is now the largest herb grower and supplier in Scotland and North East England, supplying more than half of Britain’s Tesco stores with fresh culinary herbs.
“I took a great gamble in the mid-1980s when I chose to call time on dairy farming and move into herbs, and I can honestly say it has never been a decision I’ve regretted,” said Wilson. “It’s a market that has thrived throughout the 1990s and continues to do so. I do hope that Scotherbs will remain at the forefront of Britain’s herb industry and continue to drive the market forward.”
Steve Peacock, editor of Radio 4’s Farming Today, said that Wilson stood out because of his ongoing commitment to innovation. “It’s wonderful that farmers' natural entrepreneurialism is starting to come to the fore; they are taking risks, thinking about the market and understanding the consumer. And it’s the consumer that should be thanked,” he said. “It’s the consumers' interest in where food comes from that has re-awakened farmers and made them think.”
At the beginning of next year, Scotherbs will be embarking on a new chapter in the story, when the company moves from its current base to a new purpose-built site on the other side of the A90 at Longforgan, which will double the company’s floor space of production and offices.
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