SPECIALIST growers Bomfords Ltd have won a place among the finalists in the prestigious NFU's Farming Excellence Awards.

Based at Manor Farm, Luddington, Stratford, Bomfords is a leading grower of salad, vegetable and legume crops, most of which go on to the shelves of major retailers throu-ghout the country.

Derek Wilkinson, farms director at Bomfords, said the company farmed over 4,000 acres of salad onions, runner beans, dwarf beans, broad-beans, peas, sprouts and, more recently, asparagus, with 200 full-time staff.

"We are obviously very pleased to have been nominated and to have reached the final stages.

"It is a recognition of all the hard work that goes into the bus-iness."

Bomfords was a regional winner in the Farming Business of the Year competition sponsored by ASDA and The Grocer magazine.

The overall national winner will be announced at a lunch in London on Thur-sday, March 13.