2026 Award Winners 'NATURAL FOOD' AWARDS 2026

'NATURAL FOOD' AWARDS 2026

GEORGINA CAMPBELL FOOD TOURISM EXPERIENCE 2026 : McNally Family Farm Ring Commons Co Dublin
Truly a family business, all five of Patrick and Jenny McNally’s children are now involved in the organic farming and direct selling business that they’ve been running on 99 acres, at Ring Commons in north County Dublin since 1997. Today, as well as the working farm with its many polytunnels that enable year-round production, the shop and café attract a loyal customer base, and they also run Farm Tours, inviting visitors to explore the polytunnels and fields on a working, seasonal organic farm, while also learning about sustainable growing practices and regenerative agriculture. What began with market trading expanded to restaurant supply and, eventually, to the farm shop and café, allowing visitors to buy and eat food where much of it is grown - and encourages seasonal cooking of whatever produce that is at its peak. Their decision to farm organically and sell directly has created a close relationship with customers and it’s a rewarding learning experience in every way, as the McNally family grow an extraordinary range, from potatoes, roots, brassicas and fruit to salads, herbs and speciality crops, with around 50 polytunnels supporting production of key ingredients all year round. The café food is simple, fresh and excellent value, with ever-changing menus showcasing the season’s best alongside home bakes and other treats. At its best, food tourism helps people to understand production rather than merely consume its results and the McNally Family Farm is an inspiring example which does that and more - in a most enjoyable way.

PRODUCER AWARDS 2026
MEATS: Wild Irish Game Glenmalure Co Wicklow
Wild deer numbers have risen significantly in Ireland, and responsible population management is essential to protect habitats and maintain ecological balance. By a happy chance, venison turns that necessary work into an exceptional food: lean, nutritious, versatile and unmistakably connected to the Irish landscape - and a very welcome addition to menus, as well as home cooking. Established by Mick Healy in Glenmalure in 1997, Wild Irish Game is Ireland’s longest-established game processing company, working with a natural resource that requires careful management and deserves far greater recognition in the kitchen. The company’s role is to bridge the gap between countryside management and the consumer, processing game to professional standards and making all game meats – and especially venison - available directly to chefs in season, as well as through selected retailers and specialist butchers. Its participation in Bord Bia’s Origin Green programme reflects the importance of sustainability to the business. Natural food is about more than the absence of additives. At its best, it recognises the relationship between food, landscape and responsible stewardship. Wild Irish Game makes that relationship tangible, giving cooks and consumers a delicious way to support better management of Ireland’s wild deer population – and to eat more healthily. For that combination of quality, sustainability and purpose, it is a very worthy Natural Food Award winner.

HONEY: Native Irish Honey Bee Society: nihbs.org
Honey is one of our most extraordinary natural foods - a direct expression of season, landscape and flowering plants – and this Natural Food Award recognises not just a jar of honey, but the living resource that makes it possible. Protecting the bee adapted to this island is therefore about biodiversity and food culture as much as beekeeping. The crucial importance of bees is now much more widely understood and The Native Irish Honey Bee Society (NIHBS), established in 2012, works across the island to conserve, study and strengthen Apis mellifera mellifera - the native Irish, or dark European, honey bee. The Society’s work is both practical and urgent. It supports conservation areas, bee-improvement and queen-rearing groups, education and scientific research, while encouraging beekeepers to choose native bees and reduce reliance on imported colonies. Its network of conservation areas creates safe havens intended to protect local genetics and limit hybridisation and disease risks associated with imports. NIHBS has also helped bring the native honey bee into public awareness, working with beekeepers, researchers and communities across borders. By protecting the source rather than simply celebrating the product, it reminds us that natural foods depend on healthy ecosystems. For safeguarding an irreplaceable part of Ireland’s biodiversity and honey heritage, the Native Irish Honey Bee Society is an inspired winner.

DAIRY: Glenisk Organic Killeigh Co Offaly
Established in1987 and now Ireland’s largest organic dairy food producer, Glenisk has shown that organic principles can operate at meaningful scale without losing sight of farming, quality and taste - and it would be hard to think of an Irish dairy business that has done more to bring organic milk and yoghurt into the everyday mainstream. Operating from its base beside the Cleary family farm at Killeigh, Glenisk works with a network of organic farmers and has historically used a high proportion of Ireland’s organic milk production, giving those farms a dependable market while making organic dairy widely available through supermarkets and independent shops. Glenisk was a winner in the 2019 Fáilte Ireland/Georgina Campbell Irish Breakfast Awards, but came close to disaster just two years later, when its production plant was destroyed by fire. Yet, demonstrating resilience as ever, the sustainability-focused company was back in production the following year and used the opportunity to invest in a new production plant, develop growth opportunities, launch new products and to improve its operating efficiency. Its products reach a broad audience and there is now a new cottage cheese as well as both cow’s and goat’s milk and yoghurt, and children’s products. The ever-popular Greek-style yogurt remains its best seller – and the long-standing vision of an organic Ireland alive and well. For combining scale with principle and for giving Irish organic dairy a strong national presence, Glenisk is an outstanding recipient of this Natural Food Award.

FRESH PRODUCE: Clarke's Fresh Fruit Co Meath
The story of Clarke’s Fresh Fruit began in the 1960s when Pat Clarke planted ten drills of strawberries on the family farm at Stamullen. By 1965 the fruit was being sold commercially in Dublin Market; today the business employs more than 170 people and sends freshly picked berries around the country.
Growth on that scale is impressive, but the foundation remains the same: attention to the quality of the fruit. Strawberries are joined by raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, with berries picked, packed and dispatched daily through the season. Frozen Irish berries extend the harvest beyond summer, while the farm’s own jams provide another way of preserving its flavour. Clarke’s also continues to connect directly with customers through its farm shop. Sustainability initiatives recognise the responsibility that comes with intensive fresh-produce growing, while the long history of the family business gives the operation a valuable continuity. Fresh fruit is one of the simplest foods we eat and one of the least forgiving: there is nowhere for poor quality to hide. Clarke’s has built a national reputation by understanding that truth and pursuing flavour, freshness and careful handling at scale. For decades of dedication to Irish berry growing, Clarke’s Fresh Fruit is a very deserving winner.