The Playfair dining room was packed last night for the presentation of the President's Medal and the award for innovation, which are the pinnacle of the Royal Agricultural Society's Fine Foods program.
The President's Medal rewards outstanding products and the people behind them, and once awarded, becomes a symbol of excellence for those products.
Victorians, Sandy and Julie Cameron, of Meredith Dairy, Meredith, run an extensive goat and sheep milking and cheese making operation, with a focus on environmental management and animal husbandry.
This family run operation also focuses on local community development and agricultural research and adoption, including in areas such as genomics.
The Innovation Award went to NH Foods for its Manning Valley Beef brand. NH Foods is a large employer in the Manning Valley and markets its beef products on quality and traceability.
A feature of this brand has been its innovative ways in which the company has taken a nose-to-tail approach in how it uses the whole carcase.