Ploughing maestro and agri-contracting pioneer Dave Carnegie is the winner of this year’s Royal Northern Agricultural Society (RNAS) public award.
The award, which is sponsored by the Press and Journal, recognises a public figure or personality for their services to agriculture.
Mr Carnegie, 72, is no stranger to success on the ploughing field, and last weekend he was crowned supreme champion at the Scottish Ploughing Championships.
However he has received little recognition, until now, for his other services to agriculture.
Together with his brother Brian and his son Derek, Mr Carnegie runs a highly successful agri-contracting and farming business named D.M. Carnegie.
Started by his father, also named David, in 1939, the business now employs around 45 people and the family owns 1,600 acres as well as renting some other land on contract farming arrangements.
The contracting business provides services from spraying and lime spreading, to grain drying and potato harvesting, on farms from Stonehaven to just north of Dundee.
Mr Carnegie, who admits he is a workaholic, said being involved with the company and working in the agricultural community gave him a buzz.
He attributes the family’s success to his father who he described as “enterprising” and “always at the forefront of agriculture”.
Mr Carnegie has been married to Mary for the past 48 years and the couple have two children – Angela and Derek.
When he isn’t working he enjoys ploughing – a skill he has been competing in since the 1980s.
And through this hobby and his involvement with the Scottish Ploughing Association, Mr Carnegie has been involved in helping train young farmers in ploughing and also showing school children the technique.
All citations for the award pay tribute to both Mr Carnegie’s hard-working ethos in business and his passion for ploughing.
One read: “Dave is not a person to sit in an office and spends many a day on tractors and equipment working alongside the employees, many of whom over the years having received 30 and 40 year long service awards.”
Another read: “I have never met someone with such a vast empire who is such a down to earth, genuine man. Always happy to speak to you and help where possible. An excellent role model for anyone in the industry, and certainly an inspiration for any young person coming into agriculture.”
Lastly, another described Mr Carnegie as a “great ambassador for ploughing in Scotland for over 30 years” and said “if Dave says he is going to do something, you know it will be done and done well”.
*Mr Carnegie will be presented with his award at an awards lunch on Friday, November 4, at the Jury’s Inn (formerly the Thistle Hotel) at Aberdeen Airport. A limited number of tickets are still available. Tickets cost £25 and are available from RNAS secretary Alison Argo. They can be obtained by calling Mrs Argo on 07714899628 or by e-mailing secretary@rnas.info