Top UK pig producer wins national award

Meryl Ward is presented with the latest David Black Award for services to the British pig industry by UK farm minister Jim Paice (at right) and BPEX chairman Stewart Houston.

One of the most influential pork producers in the UK has become a national award winner for her “significant and sustained contribution” to the British pig industry.
Meryl Ward received the 50th David Black Award at a ceremony in London. With her husband, Ward runs a combined pigs and arable business in eastern England that includes a breeding/finishing unit of 2,200 sows on which electronic feeding has been used in group gestation yards for the past 20 years. The enterprise also has a farm shop and conference center. She is on the board of the British Pig Executive (BPEX) and a member of the Farm Animal Welfare Council. Ward was also instrumental in establishing Agskills as a national training/scheme for pig-unit personnel.