Food and Farming Awards 2011

Richard Corrigan: BBC Food and Farming Awards 2011, Chair of Judges

We can now reveal this year's BBC Food & Farming Awards finalists and they have incredible stories to tell.

We have a cook who travels to remote villages with a wood burning pizza oven in a truck, a man who has helped changed the way Britain thinks about bread, a cook who serves food to young offenders in a Scottish institution and a supermarket that grows some of its fruit and veg on its high street roof. These are just a few of the talented finalists our judging team has now selected.

The twenty seven finalists also include a gin distiller on the Hebridean island of Islay, a Kentish sparkling wine producer, one of Britain's oldest food markets and a marketing executive who switched careers six years ago to become a low carbon farmer.

Each year the Awards celebrate the people and organisations behind the best of British food. They've all been nominated by BBC audiences.

I think these finalists all, in their own way, reflect where Britain is today, and what it can be in the future.

We have young entrepreneurs using food to create exciting new businesses, farmers with radical ideas of how our food can be produced in a more sustainable way, we have school cooks who believe the meals they serve each day are helping to change the lives of young people and drinks producers working hard to save some of our greatest craft skills and artisanal traditions.

I grew up in a farming family and always understood the power of being connected with the land, with livestock and with people who were proud to play a role in feeding their community. Few of us are lucky to have that connection today and for that reason these awards are invaluable for one simple reason; they help reconnect people with the story of the best of British food, where it comes from, how's it's made and who makes it.

We boast some of the world's best farmers, food producers and food entrepreneurs and so I hope when people hear more about the stories on this shortlist they'll understand why it gives me some optimism for our future.