The award, which this year celebrates its 25th anniversary, seeks to champion the contribution that woman make to the agricultural industry and to raise the profile of women in farming.
About the winner
Katie-Rose Davies, who has a degree in agriculture from Aberystwyth University, plays a pivotal role in the running of the family hill farm in the Ogmore Valley, where her family have farmed for over 90 years. Alongside being a partner in the business since 2015, she is a mother to three young children and works as a Lecturer in Agriculture at Bridgend College.
Katie is responsible for developing the business and ensuring its viability. She does this through continuous professional development, benchmarking and attending various workshops. Low lamb prices in 2018 were the main driver for Katie developing a marketing strategy for lamb. In 2019, she developed the ‘Bwlch Mountain Lamb’ brand and started marketing their products through box schemes. Direct sales to the public increased their sales significantly and along with the financial responsibilities, she prides herself in producing high quality beef and lamb in harmony with the environment.
Last year's winner
Sustainable farming
One of Katie’s key responsibilities is to ensure they farm in a sustainable way that protects and enhances the farm’s ecosystems. Both modern and traditional farming techniques are used to achieve this, including shepherding techniques like hefting and the cutting of molinia to encourage ground nesting birds. Participation in the Glastir scheme has allowed her to invest in capital works such as rebuilding dry stone walls, sheepfolds and keeping South Wales Mountain ewes, which are indigenous to the area and play an intrinsic part in the heritage and culture of the South Wales Valleys.
Katie is keen to play her part and fulfil her role in the industry’s journey to net zero and believes carbon capture, the use of technology to improve efficiencies, utilisation of grassland management and clean energy will be key to achieving this. She is part of a Farm Photography Club which feeds into a PhD Project at Gloucester University which looks at how the UK livestock industry is reacting to current climate change discourse. She was also part of HCC’s Farm Carbon Auditing Project in 2019 where her suckler enterprise came out with the lowest net emissions from the 10 farms participating across Wales.
Previous winners of the Wales Woman Farmer of the Year Award
Farm visits
Katie has hosted a number of farm visits including the Minister for Rural Affairs Lesley Griffiths MS and the Vice Premier of China, where she showcased Welsh beef and lamb. Following this she was identified as a leader in environmental farming practices and met with the then Prince of Wales, to discuss sustainable farming practices.
She recently hosted a farm visit for Nantymoel Primary School with nearly 200 pupils attending to learn about food, farming and the environment. She has since arranged for the Cows on Tour group to visit the school and has agreed to make this an annual event, showing how passionate she is about the industry and educating young people.
Roles away from the farm
Katie is also joint secretary of Glamorgan Farmers Club and an Agri-Academy Graduate from the Rural Leadership Programme. She was a Young Ambassador for the Welsh Black Cattle Society in 2010, HCC Livestock Scholarship finalist in 2011, Wales YFC Stockperson of the Year in 2008 and was an Agriscop Leader for 2014 – 2015.
NFU Cymru Deputy President and judge of the award Abi Reader said: “We are delighted to announce Katie as the winner of the 25th anniversary Wales Woman Farmer of the Year Award. Katie is a strong advocate for safeguarding the future of Welsh agriculture, Welsh heritage and culture and believes education plays a key role in promoting the fantastic work farmers do in producing safe, healthy and sustainable food. She endeavours to look beyond the farm gate and embrace a new, and perhaps different, approach to her business and embodies everything we look for in a winner of this award.
Worthy winner
“Katie believes that the industry needs the best people who are able to tackle the many challenges that face our industry, and after visiting her farm it was clear she is a very worthy winner of the Wales Woman Farmer of the Year award.”
Fellow judge Lona Davies representing award sponsors NFU Mutual in her role as NFU Cymru / NFU Mutual Group Secretary in Llanrwst, added: “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 Katie was the pick of the entries for this year’s award. Her passion and dedication to the industry, not only in taking care of her stock and the environment, but also her attitude towards educating youngsters about where their food comes from, shone through during our visit to her farm. Along with working off farm educating students about agriculture and running the farm with her husband Trystan and her parents, she also raises three young children and is a truly fantastic advocate for our industry.”
Katie was presented with a Welsh crystal engraved bowl and £500 prize money to mark her achievement.