The ingenuity and resilience of farmers looking to add value and diversify to their agricultural operations were highlighted by winning articles entered for the 2008 Tetra Pak Processing Solutions awards.

“It is encouraging to see such excellent examples of farm and rural enterprise and that these examples are being reported for the benefit of all by journalists who are committed to high standards of reporting,” said William Berrisford of Tetra Pak Processing. “But this does make life hard for the award judges; we had a wide range of entries, all of which were of a very high standard.”

William Berrisford of Tetra Pak Processing

Guild member and award organiser John Foster of Media Matters added: “It was very difficult to select just three winners, such was the quality and diversity of subject matter and the quality of the writing. So the judges put particular emphasis on the stated criteria of the value of information to the intended audience, an area in which the Tetra Pak judges have considerable experience and thus felt able to pinpoint aspects of stories that would be of particular value to readers.”

The Guild member category on farm diversification was won by Perthshire-based freelance Claire Powell for her article Farm enterprise is in high spirits, which described the installation of a still on an Islay farm. It was published in Farmers Weekly.

Claire Powell – Guild member category winner

Articles published in Farmers Guardian took the winning and runner-up spots in the open class, which can be entered by any journalist writing about liquid processing.

The winning article covered the development of flavoured milk to help expand a family dairy farm in Pembrokeshire, while the runner-up piece described an award-winning soft cheese operation.

Read the winning articles here:Read Claire Powell’s Article