Well-known Scottish pig producer, Kevin Gilbert, has been named this year’s ‘Unsung Hero’ at Turriff Agricultural Show.
Kevin was selected by his peers for the award run by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) Scotland’s North East Region.
The stockman from Womblehill Farm, Kintore, is the immediate past chairman of the union’s pigs committee and was a member of the Union’s Board of Directors for four years.
He runs a mixed farm including around 240 beef cattle, 700ac of cereals and 450 sows on the 1,100ac farm.
He was presented with a limited-edition pig-themed print by renowned Scottish artist Angela Davidson.
Regional NFU chairman Davie Winton paid tribute to Kevin’s tireless work on behalf of fellow farmers, his promotion of Scottish pork and his recent work in raising awareness on mental health and wellbeing within the farming community.
Promoting Scottish produce
Winton said: “For a great many years, Kevin has done a power of work promoting Scottish food, and Scottish pork in particular.
“When the union is engaged in promoting Scottish produce at supermarkets in the region, he is the one member you can rely on to turn up and do a sterling job by telling shoppers the great story behind Scottish food.
As a pig producer, he also goes the extra mile to promote Scottish pork, and famously was seen many years ago taking part in the ‘Stand by your Ham’ video, encouraging UK consumers to put more pork on their fork at a time when pig prices were in decline.
“More recently, he has been helping us with the important job of raising awareness on mental health issues and well-being in the farming community.
“He has a great way of putting his points across in print, on the radio or on TV and he has always been willing to open his farm gates to the media on behalf of North East farmers.
“I’ve had the pleasure of travelling to many head office meetings with Kevin. We’ve had some tremendous conversations. He has a great sense of humour and he is a very worthy winner of this award.”
