Farmers Weekly Lifetime Achievement Award for our Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales

On receiving the award, our Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales said: “I care passionately about trying to help the cause of sustainable farming, wherever and however it is practised. To me, that means farming that respects balance and natural limits, understands the importance of diversity and helps farmers and rural communities to thrive through producing healthy, nutritious food, while maintaining and enhancing the distinctive landscapes that make this country so special. From my own experience, I have particular admiration and affinity for those farming families who know their own land intimately and understand how to manage their crops and livestock from season to season in a way that is firmly rooted in experience, locally appropriate and, to my mind, largely irreplaceable.”

Lord Curry of Kirkharle, chair of the PCF said: “HRH cares deeply about a range of issues, but there’s none he’s more passionate about than family farms. He launched the fund because he was keen to do something practical and the PCF has since sponsored hundreds and hundreds of initiatives. He’s particularly keen that family farms survive and prosper because he knows they’re part and parcel of the fabric of our rural areas. They are the bedrock of the countryside – they’re why the landscape is the way it is and at the heart of our communities. He understands how interdependent all the different aspects of the countryside are and sees it holistically.”

“He’s a real advocate of agriculture, the countryside and the environment – and fully deserving of this award.”

Elizabeth Buchanan, a farmer, non-executive director of Defra, former private secretary to the Prince of Wales and trustee of the PCF, said: “Very few people know just how much His Royal Highness does for our farming families and our countryside – and the difference he has made. It’s simply wonderful to see him recognised with this award. He cares with a fierce and tireless passion about our smaller family farmers – the small- and medium-sized businesses on whose backs rural Britain depends. And he turns this concern into real, practical help – The Prince’s Countryside Fund being the greatest expression of this.”

“He is farming’s greatest ambassador – and he is extraordinarily prescient about what needs to be done to secure the future.”