Finalists of the 2007 competition L to R: William Wood, Richard Pye, Alex Baines, Robert Yarwood.

Richard Pye, an FdSc Agriculture student studying at Myerscough College has received the RABDF/Defra Farm Health Planning Award, a new awareness raising initiative for younger members of the industry. Richard was awarded a £500 cash prize by Defra, and the college he represented received £500 towards a farm health planning project.

A £50 cash prize and certificate was presented to each of the three other finalists short-listed for the award: Alex Baines studying BSc Hons Agriculture and Business Management at Writtle College ; William Wood, a 2007 FdSc Agriculture with Livestock Technologies graduate, Myerscough College and Robert Yarwood, HNC Dairy Herd Management, Reaseheath College .

“Each of the finalists showed a good understanding of the issues for consideration and were not short of ideas for improving the uptake of proactive health planning,” commented Mr Sumner. “However, Richard had the winning edge with an essay which placed a strong emphasis on disease prevention and demonstrated his practical experience of managing health plans on his family's Lancashire dairy farm based at Quernmore, near Lancaster . “Furthermore, Richard supported his arguments with relevant and up to date research and statistics. The judges were also impressed with his understanding of why more farmers don't currently practice proactive health planning and he offered some innovative ideas for overcoming such barriers.”

RABDF chairman, Lyndon Edwards added: “This new award, targeted at the next generation of dairy and beef producers, is an important step in the challenge of getting more farmers to recognise the value of proactive health planning. Apart from meeting the requirements of retailers and consumers who rightly expect good standards of animal health and welfare, achieving and maintaining high levels of herd health reduces costs and improves the profitability of the business. Therefore, it is vital for the next farming generation to grasp the opportunity offered by proactive health planning which will help to ensure their sustainability in an ever increasing competitive food industry.”