THE John Gittins Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the Welsh sheep industry has been won this year by Montgomeryshire farmer Steve Smith. The award, one of the most prestigious prizes in Welsh agriculture, has been won by Mr Smith, of Pen-y-Bryn, Castle Caereinion. Mr Smith was raised in a non-farming family but he always knew from a very young age that he wanted to farm. He got the farming bug and eventually moved to Wales in 1981 to work as a shepherd in Montgomeryshire. He believed that the sheep industry had great opportunity and looked towards the then new breeds that were starting to be imported from the continent and decided that Texels and Belgian Blue’s provided a great opportunity in developing the Welsh red meat sector.