A MAJOR figure in the promotion of Pembrokeshire early potatoes has followed up an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours in June with a prestigious award at Pembrokeshire County Show this week.

Patrick Edgington, of Deerland Farm, St Ishmaels, was awarded the Idris Davies Memorial Award during a ceremony at the show on Tuesday.

Perhaps his biggest achievement was the establishment of the Pembrokeshire Potato Marketing Group Ltd in 1981 at a time when early potato growers in the county were facing massive problems in the face of an over-supplied market and increasing competition from imports.

Patrick was a key player in the creation of the producer co-operative and played a leading role in the early days.

The co-operative flourished to such an extent that in 1995 it became a private limited company as Puffin Produce Ltd expanding into a multi-million pound business which now packs around 35,000 tonnes of Welsh potatoes each year, with around 125 team members working at its headquarters in Withybush.

When EU milk quotas were imposed in 1984, Patrick was a huge source of help and support to many farmers in the county to whom the move was a severe blow.

It was during this extremely tough period that he also established the first links of the farming community with the Samaritans charity and these links continue to this day.

Patrick worked for the NFU for more than 32 years up to his retirement in 2012.

After moving to Pembrokeshire from London, he took up the position of county secretary of the Pembrokeshire NFU county branch in 1979, a position he held for 10 years until 1989.

He moved onto various other positions in the organisation until his retirement in 2012 and helped drive the growth of the union.

From 1979 to 1990 he was the honorary treasurer for the Pembrokeshire Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs and honorary secretary to the Pembrokeshire branch of the RABI charity. He is a former chair of the Board of Governors of Milford Haven Comprehensive School and is a past board member and chairman of the Pembrokeshire Business Initiative. He has also been honoured as both an Associate and a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies.

Mansel Raymond, chairman of the Idris Davies Memorial Award Management Committee, said: “Patrick has made an outstanding contribution to the agricultural community in Pembrokeshire in so many ways, over so many years. He joins some excellent company in becoming this year’s winner of the Idris Davies Memorial Award.”