Meinir Howells has today (Thursday, July 25) been announced as the 26th winner of the National Farmer’ Union of Wales (NFU Cymru)/NFU Mutual Wales Woman Farmer of the Year Award.
The beef and sheep farmer from Pentrecwrt, near Llandysul has won the award 12 years after her mother, Doris Jones, won it.
The award seeks to champion the contribution that woman make to the agricultural industry and to raise the profile of women in farming.
Wales Woman Farmer of the Year
Meinir was presented with a Welsh crystal engraved bowl and £500 prize money to mark her achievement.
NFU Cymru deputy president and judge of the award, Abi Reader, said: “We are delighted to announce Meinir as the winner of the 26th Wales Woman Farmer of the Year Award.
“Meinir is a strong advocate for safeguarding the future of Welsh agriculture, whether that be through the production of top-quality livestock on the farm, her work off farm as an agricultural TV presenter, or her work with local schools and the YFC.
“Her passion for the industry was clear to see and she believes that agriculture plays a central role in preserving and enhancing biodiversity and the ecosystems, as well as producing high quality food.”
Reader said Howells clearly has innovative ideas of how to take the farming message to the masses and a “real driving force” behind the success of Shadog.
“After visiting her farm, it was clear she is a very worthy winner of the Wales Woman Farmer of the Year award.”
Fellow judge Heather Holgate, representing award sponsors NFU Mutual in her role as NFU Cymru/NFU Mutual group secretary in Tregaron, said:
“It has been a pleasure to help judge the NFU Cymru/NFU Mutual Wales Woman Farmer of the Year Award and see for myself the huge depth of talent we have among women in Welsh agriculture.
“The standard of the applications was exceptionally high, which made our role as judges enjoyable and challenging in equal measure.
“However, both Abi and I were in agreement that Meinir was the pick of the entries for this year’s award.”
Holgate said Howells’ passion and dedication to the industry, not only in taking care of her stock and the environment, but also her attitude towards educating others about where their food comes from and how it is produced shone through during our visit to her farm.
“She is a truly fantastic advocate for our industry.”
Meinir Howells
Having grown on up her family’s beef and sheep farm, Howells took her inspiration from her mother, Doris, who worked full time on the farm.
Despite making sure her daughter had other options and encouraging her to go to Aberystwyth University to study Welsh alongside film and TV, Howells always knew farming was in her blood and that one day she would farm herself.
NFU Cymru said Howells is a hard-working, hands-on farmer. Along with her husband Gary, they run a predominately pedigree flock as well as some commercials, producing around 130 yearling breeding rams a year.
They also have a herd of beef heifers, which they rear, calve and then sell on, a commercial suckler herd and a pedigree Aberdeen Angus herd, as well as 12 Shetland ponies and a pig.
The couple, who have two young children, Sioned, aged eight and Dafydd aged six, also keep Pedigree Texel ewes, Suffolks, Charolais, Beltex, Blueface and Balwens.
These are now sold mostly from home and, through Howells’ social media marketing, they have sold tups to Argyle, Scotland, Devon and even Estonia.
Howells has just finished her second stint as chair of the Balwen Society, after starting her flock as a child, she has previously won the Royal Welsh Championship as well as being Smallholders Champion a number of times.
In order to meet their climate and environment goals, Meinir and Gary Howells have ensured the farm has double fenced 4,000m of hedges, planted around 11,000 trees in hedgerows, fencing off rough land and leaving it for nature to thrive.
They also now have 15 bee hives on the farm and Meinir Howells sells the honey within the local community.
Off farm, Howells works part time as a TV presenter, mainly focusing on agricultural programmes, where she aims to show the hard work, dedication and passion of farmers from all over Wales. S
he presents from the Royal Welsh Show for the live S4C coverage and is a regular on S4C’s Ffermio.
The Howell’s family also feature in a programme on S4C called Teulu Shadog: Blwyddyn ar y Fferm (The Shadog Family: A year on the farm). This programme shows the ups and downs and the reality of farming and has just been renewed for a fourth series.
