Royal honour for Northamptonshire rapeseed oil producer Farrington Oils

Staff at a Northamptonshire farm have celebrated being presented with a much-coveted royal award in a ceremony which was delayed due to Covid.

Farrington Oils, Britain’s original ‘seed-to-bottle’ producer of cold-pressed rapeseed oil, had been awarded a prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development.

In April Farrington Oils had been named in the Queen’s Award for Enterprise alongside 205 other organisations nationally, of which 17 were given for sustainable development.

Yesterday, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire James Saunders Watson visited the Hargrave base to hand over the glass trophy and certificate.

Duncan Farrington, managing director of Farrington Oils, said: “Winning a Queen’s Award for Enterprise is a huge honour, and being awarded it for sustainable development in particular is a real testament to our commitment to the environment.

"Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do and I am so proud to be recognised for our decades of hard work and dedication in this area.

"Now more than ever, we all need to put our planet first, working towards a more sustainable future. I hope that seeing a small company from a village in Northamptonshire win such a prestigious award will encourage other small and medium sized businesses to take the next step in their sustainability journey, so we can all do our bit for the planet.”

Farrington Oils was set up in 2005 by Duncan Farrington as the UK’s first seed-to-bottle producer of cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Last year, the company made history by becoming the manufacturer of the world’s first food product to be certified as both carbon and plastic neutral.

As well as their Farrington’s Mellow Yellow Cold Pressed Rapeseed Oil, the Farrington’s Mellow Yellow range now includes oils and salad dressings, all of which use Farrington’s Mellow Yellow Rapeseed Oil. The brand is available nationally, from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Ocado, Co-Op, Booths and independent retailers.

Farrington Oils are signatories of the United Nations Climate Neutral Now Initiative pledge and have achieved the Carbon Neutral Gold Standard.

They have partnered with rePurpose Global to become plastic neutral and fund the removal of the same amount of plastic from the environment as used in their packaging.

Following on from their award win, Farrington Oils will be continuing their sustainability work with Duncan involved in an EU funded project called AgricaptureCO2 working towards creating a globally recognised standard for measuring soil carbon content.