Coleg Glynllifon recently hosted a celebratory event featuring a host of Welsh food and drink producers, as part of the British Grassland Society’s annual summer meeting.
In its first visit to north Wales in over twenty years, delegates travelled to a range of farms across the region over a three-day period to explore key aspects having an impact on the industry, including issues around sustainable food production, enhancing biodiversity and technology, along with driving innovation and sharing of knowledge.
As part of the event at Coleg Glynllifon, a host of food and drink producers were featured as part of a celebratory feast of local food, with produce provided from the likes of Rhug Organic, Halen Môn, Daffodil Foods, Llaeth y Llan, Sabor de Amor and Y Cwt Caws.
These businesses had all previously worked with Llangefni’s Food Technology Centre through the Project HELIX food innovation scheme, which is Coleg Glynllifon’s sister site as part of the wider Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.
Coleg Glynllifon has been a leading provider of land-based education since 1954, with two hundred learners following full time land-based courses, capitalising on the resources at the farm and in other parts of the college.
The event builds on recent positive developments related to agri-food at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai. These include the announcement of a planned £16million investment into a Rural Economy Hub at Coleg Glynllifon as part of the North Wales Growth Deal, and the unveiling of a partnership with AMRC Cymru aimed at transforming the rural economy by developing skills and exploring new technologies for the agri-food sector.
Speaking of the event Rhodri Owen, Farm, Forest and Innovation Manager at Coleg Glynllifon said, “It was a great honour to host delegates from the British Grassland Society as part of their visit to north Wales. The whole event was a success and a great opportunity for us to exhibit some the innovative projects currently taking place at our site.
“These include working with researchers from Bangor University on trials around the implementation of TechnoGrazing systems in Wales. The trials are currently ongoing but it is hoped they could result in higher yield of grass and produce more kilograms of meat per hectare.”
Speaking of his pride at seeing so many local food and drink producers taking part in the celebratory feast, Paul Roberts, Agri-Food Strategic Operations Manager at the Food Technology Centre, Grŵp Llandrillo Menai added, “It was wonderful to see so much high-quality, locally sourced produce on display for the farm to fork dinner.
“It is a source of great pride that all the companies on show have received support through Project HELIX, and that they are going on to achieve great success. We are fully aware of the challenges that many in the industry are currently facing, and we pride ourselves in being able to offer a full range of business support and technical services to help food and drink businesses flourish and succeed.”
