Food Producer of the Year Finalists 2026/7
The top public vote-winners:
- The English Olive Co, Lincolnshire
- Driver’s Pickles, Leicester
- Urban Dairy, Daventry
- Redhill Farm Free Range Pork, Lincolnshire
Food Producer of the Year 2026/7: The English Olive Co
The English Olive Co in Lincolnshire is our Great Food Club Food Producer of the Year 2026/7.
When you’re standing in the Lincolnshire countryside with an icy wind blowing in from The Wash, 18,000 olive trees are about the last thing you expect to see. Yet that is exactly what farmer David Hoyles has planted across 25 acres of his family farm.
David’s family has farmed here for more than 200 years, traditionally growing crops including wheat, potatoes, sugar beet, peas and mustard. The English Olive Co represents something completely different: a long-term attempt to establish commercial olive growing in Britain.
The scale and ambition of the project immediately impressed our judges. The grove was planted in 2024 and contains 10 different olive varieties, allowing David and his team to learn which are best suited to the soil and climate of this part of Lincolnshire.
There is no established British olive-growing rulebook to follow. Much has had to be learnt along the way, from selecting varieties and adapting growing methods to protecting young trees from hares and rabbits. Italian olive growers have helped with knowledge and advice, jokingly referring to David as the “crazy Englishman”.
But the thinking behind the project is serious. The farm is looking decades rather than years ahead and considering how changing climatic conditions could alter British agriculture.
David says: “Climate change means we’re getting warmer, drier periods. Creating The English Olive Co gives us first-mover advantage, builds a brand we own, and makes us stand out from the crowd.”
The early signs are encouraging. Olives have already been hand-harvested, pressed and bottled using methods adapted with help from Italian growers, whose knowledge, passion and enthusiasm David credits as an important part of the project.
What makes The English Olive Co stand out is the willingness to take a calculated risk and commit significant time, money and land to an idea whose true potential may take years to reveal.
It is pioneering farming in the most literal sense: experimenting, learning and creating something that has barely existed commercially in Britain before.
The project also has significance beyond this one farm. British farmers face difficult decisions about changing weather patterns, crop viability and the future use of their land. The English Olive Co shows what can happen when a farmer is prepared to experiment rather than simply continue doing what has always been done.
Whether Lincolnshire eventually becomes known for olive oil remains to be seen. But David and his team have already created one of the most fascinating agricultural projects we have encountered in the region.
For its vision, courage, investment and willingness to pioneer a completely new direction for British farming, The English Olive Co is our Great Food Club Food Producer of the Year 2026/7.
The other finalists
Driver’s Pickles, Leicester
Driver’s Pickles has roots stretching back more than a century. The Driver family ran grocery shops in Ibstock and Leicester during the 19th century before Frederick Charles Driver established the Driver’s Pickle & Vinegar Company in 1906.
Four and five generations later, the family is still producing pickles. Sarah Driver launched the Drivers Deli range in 2016, initially taking seven products to Leicestershire food fairs. The range has since grown to more than 20, covering everything from dill pickle slices and farmhouse pickle to gin-infused cucumber relish.
It is a strong example of a traditional regional producer continuing to evolve while retaining the identity that made it successful in the first place.
Urban Dairy, Daventry
Urban Dairy makes small-batch raw-milk cheese by hand using local Jersey milk. The emphasis is on patience, careful maturation and allowing each cheese to develop its own flavour and character naturally.
The business grew from more than 13 years of food production experience under the Hamm Tun Fine Foods name before developing into a dedicated cheesemaking operation. Every cheese is handled individually and produced in deliberately small quantities rather than chasing volume.
That commitment to traditional craft has resulted in several Great Taste Awards, while regular appearances at local markets keep the cheesemaker closely connected to the people buying and eating its products.
Redhill Farm Free Range Pork, Lincolnshire
Redhill Farm Free Range Pork is one of Lincolnshire’s standout independent food producers. For more than 25 years, Jane and Terry Tomlinson have put animal welfare at the centre of the farm, rearing Duroc-cross-Landrace pigs outdoors where they can root, wallow and grow slowly.
The family controls the process closely through its on-farm butchery, bakery and smokehouse. Bacon is dry cured and oak smoked, while products including pork pies and haslet are still made by hand.
Redhill Farm has collected considerable recognition over the years, including the Great Taste Supreme Champion award in 2020. Great Food Club has previously named it Food Producer of the Year, while co-founder Jane Tomlinson was our Food Hero of the Year in 2024.
Congratulations to The English Olive Co, Driver’s Pickles, Urban Dairy and Redhill Farm Free Range Pork on reaching the Great Food Club Awards 2026/7 Food Producer of the Year final.
