Two sisters who took on the running of their Shetland island family farm after their father passed away have been awarded one of the UK’s biggest farming honours.
Sisters, Kirsty and Aimee Budge, were aged just 21 and 17 when their father Bryden died, aged 46, in a tractor accident, forcing them to take the helm of the family business.
Four years on, the girls have been named this year’s ‘Countryfile Farming Heroes’.
The pair keep 200 Shetland cross ewes, as well as 70 cows and also grow barley on the 300ha farm – over the last four years the girls have increased livestock numbers and even taken on more ground.
As the seventh generation of their family on the farm, they have strived to continue the farm’s success and are bringing new ideas to the farm too – thanks to speaking to other local farmers and learning at college.
They have also become Shetland’s only monitor farm; testing their ideas out and sharing the results with other farmers.
Speaking to the BBC, Kirsty said that at first the task of taking on the farm took her mind off what had happened to her father.
She said: “Initially, after dad’s death, the farm really helped us because we had to get up, we had to get on with it, we had to feed the animals. They were relying on us.
“There was no chance of use lying around, moping around.
“We just had to get on with it so the farm really helped us in the early days.
“We are the seventh generation on the farm, and a lot of people behind us have worked hard to get it where it is now.”
Hands Free Hectare
Also, highly accoladed at the event last week was the Hands Free Hectare project. The team were given the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today Future Food Award.
Hands Free Hectare aims to grow crops using only robots and drones.
Spraying on the Hands Free Hectare
It’s a world-first project run by Harper Adams University and Precision Decisions to drill, tend and harvest a crop without operators on the machine and agronomists in the field.
They have successfully drilled their second crop – a hectare of winter wheat – and are hoping to improve the accuracy of their machinery, and therefore improve the yield at harvest next year.
Selected from thousands of public nominations, the BBC Food and Farming Awards celebrate the nation’s greatest food and drink producers, cooks, farmers, shop owners.
Shelia Dillon, BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme presenter and judge, said: “More and more, we are seeing people choosing to eat consciously and growing more aware of where their food comes from. Our finalists this year really reflect that.
“We’re seeing young and talented people moving into food – learning how to make charcuterie, setting up businesses in the heart of their communities – and through their food, these people are changing society.”
