FOR the second year in succession the bursary prize, awarded annually by Clynderwen and Cardiganshire Farmers Co-op, has been won by the wife of a Pembrokeshire dairy farmer.
This year, successful applicant is mother of three, Mrs. Debbie James, of Home Farm, Stackpole, near Pembroke.
In her well received presentation, Mrs. James claimed that more could be done and needed to be done in effectively promoting and stimulating demand for British milk - its health benefits, low fat content and versatility for any meal of the day.
She observed that 'The White Stuff' drive was being rated as a success and welcomed the funding made available to provide milk for 5,000 primary school children in Pembrokeshire - this type of publicity must be of long term benefit to the dairy industry as a whole, she felt.
She claimed that the accepted response from effective marketing was £5 earned for every £1 spent, Milk, she said, needed to appear much more prominently in the public domain and excellent lessons could be learned from studying campaigns mounted by Orange (mobile phones), Coke and Carlsberg.
"Even bottled water might outsell fresh milk at the present time," Debbie suggested.
The other finalists and runners-up were National Park ranger Richard Vaughan, of Penlan, Gwaun Valley, near Fishguard, who gave a presentation on farm diversification, and CCF employee Steve Lewis, of Furze Hill, Camrose, Haverfordwest, who had studied the production and marketing of early lamb.
All entries were judged by Prof. Dai Morris, St. Clears, and Mrs. James, who also works as a freelance journalist, received her prize of £1,500 from CCF board chairman, Mr. Stephen James.