A WOMAN farmer from the Ribble Valley who maintained her pig farm through the foot and mouth crisis has been rewarded for her efforts.

Louise Edge, from Clayton-le-Dale, has been voted runner-up in the National Farmers Union president's award for Farming Woman of the Year.

"In a very male-dominated industry, it is nice that there is an award to recognise the hard work of women in farming, " said Louise. "There are plenty of women in the industry who deserve a title like that."

The awards are designed to recognise those who achieve remarkable results, often against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Louise, 36, and her husband Phillip, also a pig farmer, own and operate Fairfield farm, off Longsight Road and a farm shop selling cured bacon, ham and sausages. Until June 2000 the farm, home to 700 pigs, specialised in producing pigs for wholesale. But restrictions on the movement of livestock during the foot and mouth crisis meant the need for change - which is why they opened the shop.

"We couldn't move the pigs and the pig-houses were getting more and more full.

"It was becoming incredibly expensive to feed them. We ended up £15,000 behind on our feed bills," said Louise.

"So we decided to open our own outlet here on the farm."

Neighbour Ken Turner, an ex-butcher, lecturer in the meat industry and expert curer, began to train Phillip as a butcher and in ham and bacon curing. "We are very fortunate to have Ken next door. He came to help us every night through October until Christmas, and even worked in the shop when we first opened. Without him we would have struggled," said Louise. They are now the only pig farm left in the Ribble Valley.

Louise believes she was considered for the award because she changed her life to maintain the family's farm. "The NFU were awarding innovative approaches," she said.

The Edges have three daughters, twins aged eight, and an older girl of nine. But there are no plans for them to become pig farmers.

Louise said: "It is a very hard way to make a living. But I prefer it to office work. There is no boss and a lot less pressure to achieve."

The couple are planning to expand the shop to include cooked products and home-made pork pies, and there are plans to develop a processing area on the farm site.