Food champion receives award for visionary hub
Last updated 05:37, Friday, 04 July 2008
CUMBRIAN farmer John Geldard and his Plumgarths Hub have won a top food award.
The Kendal business, which brings together small suppliers in order to help them market their produce, picked up the law firm DWF’s Award for the Outstanding Contribution at the Food Northwest Awards 2008.
The award recognised Mr Geldard’s pioneering work, not only in the farming sector, but also in developing Plumgarths as a hub which farmers and cottage industries can sell from. The business focuses on marketing produce both locally and to larger, supermarket concerns, such as Asda.
It features a farmshop, foodservice, Lakelands Food Park, the Westmorland Pudding Company.
The annual awards, held in Liverpool, recognised innovations and achievements of businesses across the region.
They acknowledged companies from all areas of the industry, including food retail and service, wholesale, catering, distribution, food processing and agriculture with winners in 11 categories.
Patricia Foreman, chief executive of Food Northwest, said: “Against strong competition for the award, John stood out, not only for his success in building the Plumgarths brand as a champion for regional food, but also for creating opportunities for small producers.”
