Award Categories 2024

Sustainable Chef of the year

The judges are going to be looking for:

  • A chef who is buying direct from local suppliers and local butchers
  • Chef using and promoting native breeds meat or other traditional produce
  • Chef championing traditional and local producers
  • A chef who is buying and promoting ‘top to toe’
  • A chef promoting and using produce from livestock on the watchlist of RBST

The category is sponsored by the Scottish Food Guide

Sustainable Produce Retail outlet of the year

This category is targeted at permanent retail outlets (permanent or temporary) on high streets, on farm, in rural locations who:

  • promote and supplying produce from rare and / or native breeds of livestock
  • work with and promote local suppliers, encourages them and supports them
  • treat local suppliers in a fair way
  • understand and promote the local heritage of produce
  • Offer any and all types of food (meat, cheese, dairy, etc) and / or other sustainable produce from native breeds such as wool and wool products, soap, horns, skins.

This category will include farmers markets, single farm outlets and also those selling online

This category is sponsored by SAC Consulting

Sustainable Food Producer of the year

This category is aimed at Primary Producers based in Scotland who are:

  • visibly committed to a high level of sustainable production
  • demonstrating local supply, low produce miles, low inputs
  • preferably working with native breeds or other traditional livestock
  • maximising outputs through diversification
  • judges will be particularly interested in anyone commercially selling produce from livestock on the RBST Watchlist

The category is sponsored by Scotland Food & Drink

Sustainable Small farm of the year

 

The winner of this category will most likely:

  • Be a croft or smallholding or small perhaps tenanted farm
  • Be operating commercially albeit on a small scale, and with the farm not always the sole source of income, or perhaps with an innovative diversification
  • preferably has a focus on rare or native breeds of livestock or equines
  • use and promote regenerative methods
  • created new habitats and environments on their land that improve biodiversity

This category is sponsored by the Scottish Smallholder Festival

Sustainable Farm of the year

The winner of this category will most likely:

  • Be a larger commercial (mixed) farm which has developed or embraced new ways of working to reduce inputs, maximise outputs and /or create new products or markets,
  • preferably has a focus on rare or native breeds
  • used and promoted regenerative methods
  • have created new habitats and environments on their land that improve biodiversity and enhance soil
  • have introduced new husbandry methods that have reduced use of antibiotics and lengthened useful life

Rare Breed Survival Trust Champion of the year

This award will recognise the person or business who has been a real champion over the previous year for rare and native breeds of farm livestock, poultry or equines in Scotland. This category is the widest and reflects the wide range of people and organisations involved in the promotion of native breeds. So they will probably be:

  • A breeder who has been successful at improving the prospects of one of our watchlist breeds
  • An administrator who has enhanced the prospects of a watchlist breed through support and encouragement of others
  • A volunteer who has successfully showcased the great opportunities and attractions of native breeds through the media, in the showring or at other public events
  • Artisan butchers promoting a variety of products including traditional cuts and tastes e.g. Mutton and are providing a service to rare and native breed keepers
  • Producers running an on farm butchery
  • Wholesalers who are promoting native breed produce
  • A writer who is using their voice and platform to influence people working on the land to become more sustainable or regenerative using native breeds
  • A volunteer or employee of a land based organisation promoting sustainable farming
  • A society representing the best of our native breeds

This category is sponsored by Rare Breeds Survival Trust

Sustainable Farm diversification of the Year

The winner of this category will most likely:

  • Be a farm which has diversified its traditional business into new areas to increase the long term viability of the farm
  • Preferably diversified using native breeds
  • Created niche approaches that showcase new thinking
  • Shortened their supply chains to bring them nearer to the consumer
  • Diversified as a part of wider regenerative approach

This category is sponsored by Burness Paull

Sustainable Product of the Year

The winner of this category could come from a position as a supplier to farms or a farm supplying to others:

  • Be a manufacturer who has developed a new product that enhances the sustainability of the farm in terms of its environmental footprint
  • Be an organisation that develops a new product or promotion using native breeds to enhance on farm profitability and environmental benefit
  • Be a farm business that has developed, packaged or promoted a new approach to selling produce from native breeds
  • Created niche products that showcase new thinking