Tracey Roan, of Boreland of Colvend near Dalbeattie, has been honoured for her outstanding advocacy of the farming industry in general, and dairying and Dumfries and Galloway in particular.
She is one of the co-founders of Roan’s Dairy, set up the Dumfries and Galloway Dairy Women’s Network to support female farmers locally and is on the board of the South of Scotland Economic Partnership. Married to Steven and mum to Andrew and Lucy, they milk more than 200 pedigree Holstein.
And, along with the wider Roan family, they are the sixth generation of dairy farmers, and set up the dairy business in 2015, after she participated in the Rural Leadership Programme. It supplies fresh, free range milk to homes and businesses across the area and has diversified into a milkshake bar as well that they take to events such as the Royal Highland Show.
She is also a community councillor and has recently joined the BBC Scotland Rural Affairs Advisory Committee.
Tracey picked up her award at the NFU Scotland annual dinner in Glasgow last week.
Congratulating her, the NFUS regional manager Teresa Dougall said: “We have been working with Tracey over the last few years from when she first approached us, looking for our support in setting up the Dumfries and Galloway Dairy Women’s Network. She worked tirelessly to establish this group for ladies in her region, providing the meetings, training and social events that they wanted. Her drive to promote this groups continues, as does her commitment to the wider sector and family business.
“Tracey represented our sector on the South of Scotland Economic Partnership and has recently joined the NFUS Dumfries and Galloway Executive Committee. Her and the family also featured on series two of This Farming Life and through this, we were able to see and hear about her passion for the industry. This is what we look for in an ambassador and the award has gone to a worthy winner.”
NFU Mutual chairman Jim McLaren added: “The establishment and development of Roan’s Dairy by Tracey and the whole Roan family makes her a fantastic advocate for the role that farm diversification can play in growing a farming business.”
