A young farmer from Tebay has won what is probably the top individual honour awarded by the YFC movement nationally.
Hector Meanwell, aged 25 and a member of the Eden Valley YFC, was named Young Farmer of the Year in a ceremony held at the National Conference Centre, Birmingham, on Saturday. To add to Cumbria’s triumph, the runner-up for the award was another young farmer from the county, 27-year-old Robbie Tuer, from Cotehill, who has been involved with Raughton Head YFC for more than 10 years.
With around 500 people looking on, Hector, Robbie and other young farmers shortlisted for the top award were interviewed by a judging panel headed by Kelvin and Liz Fletcher, stars of the ITV series Fletchers’ Family Farm. Other panel members were Stephanie Berkeley, from sponsor the Farm Safety Foundation, and YFC competitions steering group chair Will Longmire.
They weighed up their options carefully before giving top spot to Hector, who helps run his family’s regenerative upland farm at Tebay, as well as managing Low Beckside Farm, Mungrisdale, for the Ernest Cook Trust, and is eager to bridge the gap between consumers and farming. He is involved in launching a shop on his family farm and runs educational sessions at Low Beckside to engage schoolchildren and people from disadvantaged backgrounds about opportunities in agriculture.
The judges were impressed by Hector’s ambition and willingness to champion the sector — even taking on a member of the House of Lords who criticised what she claimed was a lack of biodiversity on farms in the Tebay area.
Kelvin Fletcher said: “The unique thing about Hector is that people like him don’t come along very often. He’s an entrepreneur, he’s got spirit. He will do things on a huge scale.
“I’m buzzing about the future of farming if it looks like Hector. He’s hard working, passionate, willing to be transparent and open with people that doubt the integrity of his work and brings them on board. I think that’s fantastic.”
Hector said he felt very honoured to win the award, but what had really made an impression on him at the ceremony was seeing the strength of the YFC movement in Cumbria.
“Out of the 500 people there about a quarter to a third were from Cumbria — the support was overwhelming and I felt we were really together as a county,” he said. “Also, Cumbrian young farmers were shortlisted in five of the eight award categories.” Robbie Tuer also noted the strength of Cumbrian representation and said it was great that he and Hector had been first and second for the top award.
Robbie, who is from a non-farming background, works as a ruminant sales representative for Aspatria Farmers, looking after a large number of farmers in northern Cumbria. He sits on committees for agricultural shows and societies, along with developing a network with his local parish council and lobbying MPs.
He is also vice-chair of the national YFC AGRI group and is trained to deliver national farm safety and mental health workshops to clubs.
The Young Farmer of the Year Award was one of eight presented at Birmingham in recognition of the achievements of those involved in YFCs across England and Wales during the previous year. In the club of the year category, Raughton Head YFC was runner-up.
Other finalists shortlisted included: Community Spirit Award — Broughton and Caldbeck YFCs; Aspiring Rural Leader Award — Abigail Graham, of Walton YFC; Entrepreneur of the Year Award — Katie Waine, of Grayrigg YFC, and Cecile Clark, of Kent Estuary YFC; Club of the Year Award — Furness YFC.
