Champion of the pig industry sought for top award

The Chris Brant Award is presented annually to someone who goes the extra mile for the industry.

Last year’s winner of the National Pig Association (NPA) prize was Peter Crichton, an independent adviser and valuer based in Bury St Edmunds, who was chosen for the compassion and kindness he showed while helping pig producers in difficulties.

Mr Crichton will be sifting through the nominations of this year’s competition to pick out a winner with the help of NPA chairman Richard Longthorp and Oxfordshire pig producer Sally Stockings.

Mr Longthorp, who farms near Howden in East Yorkshire, said: “We will be looking for someone who consistently goes the extra mile on behalf of the industry, without thought of direct personal reward.”

The award was renamed in 2009 in recognition of Yorkshire pig producer Chris Brant, who died in the summer of that year and was described by the NPA as “noisy, blunt, rambunctious and as straight as a gun barrel, he never failed to step up to the mark when the industry needed his help”.

Many of the past award winners have been associated with direct action organisation the British Pig Industry Support Group and include Yorkshire pig producers Fred Henley and John Rowbottom and Yorkshire feed adviser John Cusson, as well as Burton-on-Trent consultant Nick White and Berkshire ventilation specialist Hugh Crabtree.

The winner of the Chris Brant Award will be unveiled at the NPA’s summer event in Peterborough this June.

Nominations can be made online at www.npa-uk.org.uk

The next NPA north meeting will take place at Sandburn Hall in Flaxton, North Yorkshire, on Tuesday at 6.30pm.