NPA vice-chair Hugh Crabtree has gained the 2023 David Black Award for his remarkable contribution to the British pig business over 40 years.
The award used to be offered via closing yr’s winner, former NPA leader govt Zoe Leach OBE, on the Nationwide Pig Awards in London on Monday.
The David Black Award is given to a person or organisation that has made an impressive affect at the British pig sector via their paintings – and Hugh, who co-founded pig air flow gadget provider, Farmex, in 1980 and recently sits at the AHDB Beef Board is a completely deserved winner of this prestigious award.
Hugh has devoted his profession to bettering the welfare and financial manufacturing of the business. Underneath his management, Farmex pioneered the ‘Barn Record’ gadget, a real-time regulate and tracking gadget that permits pig manufacturers to remotely test essential purposes in managed setting properties akin to temperature, air flow, water, and feed float. The gadget has stored manufacturers 1000’s of kilos, and delivers vital welfare enhancements.
He has gained the New Apparatus Award on the British Pig & Poultry Honest 3 times, and his paintings is at the vanguard of real-time manufacturing tracking in the United Kingdom and the USA. He has led 3 UK Analysis and Innovation (UKRI)-funded collaborative R&D initiatives and is energetic within the box of precision cattle farming and the appliance of data and communique era (ICT) in agriculture.
Hugh has been concerned with the NPA since its formation within the late-Nineteen Nineties, serving for a few years as its Allied Business Staff chair, sooner than turning into a vice-chairman of the affiliation when the manufacturer and allied business teams merged in 2019. He has been at the NPA’s board for a few years and used to be awarded a Lifetime Fellowship of the NPA in 2019.
A former chair of the British Pig Affiliation, he used to be a key determine within the campaigning British Pig Business Give a boost to Staff that introduced ‘Winnie the Pig’ to Parliament to focus on the pig business’s plight greater than twenty years in the past. An completed musician, Hugh used to be the in the back of the enduring ‘Stand By way of Your Ham’ business vintage as a spotlight of his campaigning efforts. Extra lately, he used to be energetic within the Chunk Into British marketing campaign when disaster struck the business once more.
Hugh is an Institute of Agricultural Engineers Fellow and he gained the Institute of Agricultural Engineers Award of Benefit in 2023.
His communique abilities had been instrumental in highlighting the significance of correct setting regulate to fortify each welfare and financial manufacturing.
He has additionally inspired younger other folks to sign up for the business via founding The Nick Chook Award at Harper Adams College and he chairs the Pig Business Scholarship Programme (PISP) workforce. Hugh performed a commendable function in creating the massively respected Development Providers Discussion board, which has been key in collating key knowledge on necessary evolving subjects akin to adaptive farrowing for manufacturers and coverage makers alike.
Nice honour
Accepting the award, Hugh Crabtree, stated: “This can be a very nice honour for me to obtain the David Black Award in my forty fourth yr within the business. My industry had an affiliation with the Black circle of relatives proper from the very get started of our buying and selling in 1979 and I’ve been acutely aware of the award and its extraordinarily eminent recipients right through my profession. I’m very humbled certainly to now to find myself numbered among them.
“Lately, as soon as once more, the pig business has had some massively difficult instances. However this is a measure of the folk concerned – with all their resilience, dedication and professionalism – that the sphere will proceed to offer secure, nutritious and wholesome meals while ultimate the welfare of the pigs in its care. I’m extremely joyful, if quite embarrassed, via the popularity of my friends and sincerely thank all the ones accountable for my nomination.”
Mike Sheldon, Chair of AHDB’s Beef Sector Council, stated: “Hugh Crabtree’s contribution to the British pig business is worthy of this yr’s David Black award. The award honours his lifelong determination, pioneering spirit, and remarkable contributions to the British pig sector. His dedication to bettering the business’s welfare and manufacturing requirements has left an indelible mark, and this reputation is a testomony to his profound affect.
“Hugh has really remodeled the pig business via his pioneering paintings at Farmex Ltd, voluntary engagements, and advocacy. His skill to make even essentially the most mundane subjects fascinating has been a game-changer. His hobby for the motive and remarkable communique abilities have empowered pig manufacturers and pushed certain trade. It’s nice to proudly recognize Hugh Crabtree’s extraordinary contributions to the business.”