Ewan Pate named as winner of Ambassador Award
NFU Scotland’s prestigious Ambassador Award has been presented to popular and talented farmer and agricultural journalist Ewan Pate, who stepped down as Agricultural Editor of The Courier in January.
Established by the Union in 2009 and supported by NFU Mutual, the Ambassador award was set up to recognise those individuals who, through their own efforts, have played an influential role in communicating the work, challenges and the value of Scottish food and farming to a wider audience.
The award was presented to Ewan at the Union’s annual dinner, held in St Andrews last night (Thursday, 11 February) in front of 500 guests and delegates.
NFUS and NFU Mutual wanted to jointly recognise the enormous contribution and effort made by Ewan in covering agricultural and food issues in The Courier newspaper, his support for the industry through his involvement with NFUS committees and his work as Vice Chairman of the Scottish rural charity RSABI.
Ewan, a long-time farmer member of NFUS, has been a hugely valuable contact for the Union and has provided excellent balanced coverage of agricultural matters six days a week via The Courier for the past 11 years. He will still provide The Courier and Farm North East with opinion pieces and articles in his retirement (although that retirement is also going to involve tractor work and plucking turkeys!).
Since his appointed as agricultural editor of The Courier, Ewan has become an award-winning writer and a driving force in agricultural journalism. He built his reputation on accurate and incisive reporting led by his knowledge of agriculture.
Under his watch, the Guild of Agricultural Journalists awarded The Courier the Stuart Seaton Regional Newspaper of The Year title, while Ewan himself was named Regional Farming Journalist of The Year.
Ewan has also been awarded the Fellowship of Royal Agricultural Societies (FRAgS) that recognises contributions to agricultural progress. A long-standing supporter of RSABI, Ewan Pate was co-opted to the Board in August 2011 to strengthen its media skills, and was elected to its Board at the following AGM in November.
Ewan has farmed in the Dundee area all his life following education at the High School of Dundee and the East of Scotland School of Agriculture. He is currently farming 650 acres as a long term tenant at South Powrie, just to the north of Dundee, in partnership with wife Anne and son Thomas, now the fourth generation Pate on the mainly arable farm. Over the years he has been interested in the politics of farming and has been both soft fruit committee Chairman and cereals committee Vice Chairman at NFU Scotland.
In presenting the award, President Allan Bowie said: “Ewan Pate has brought great knowledge, balance and skill to the agricultural pages of The Courier. His writing has not only kept his readership fully informed but he has regularly challenged many parts of our industry – Government, institutions and farmers themselves – on the need to do better. As a local reader of The Courier I looked forward to reading his articles, always gaining an extra insight to farming matters.
“His farming background has proved invaluable in teasing out the minutiae of CAP Reform detail while recent work highlighting the impact of flooding and beavers on the productive capacity of Scotland’s farmland has seen him come across as a true champion of our sector.”
Richard Neville, Editor of The Courier said: “I think it is fantastic that NFU Scotland and NFU Mutual are honouring Ewan. He has been a tremendous servant to The Courier through both his expertise but also as an ambassador when out and about representing the paper – not just in Courier country, but across Scotland and the rest of the UK.” Ends
Notes to Editors
- The NFU Scotland/NFU Mutual Ambassador Award recognises those who have excelled at representing the nation’s agricultural and food industries. Past winners have included Ken Rundle, Dan Buglass (posthumous), Lady Claire MacDonald, David Leggat, John Cameron, Ian Duncan Millar and Joe Watson (posthumous).
- A photograph of Ewan Pate collecting the Ambassador award at the Union’s annual dinner will be available from 10.00am on Friday 12 February from media@nfus.org.uk or call 07788 927675.
Contact Bob Carruth on 0131 472 4006.