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Food & Drink Hero:The Black FarmerBorn in Jamaica, Wilfred’s family came to the UK in the Windrush years in the1950s. Brought up in inner-city Birmingham, he fulfilled his childhood dream toown a small piece of the British countryside. Inspired by this and his love andsupport of British farming, he launched The Black Farmer brand.Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is, in his ownwords, ‘a poor boy, done good’. He was bornin Jamaica and then, after his parents cameto the UK in the 50s, was raised in inner-cityBirmingham.For a number of years Wilfred worked as achef before pursuing a career in television.Unqualified and dyslexic but ambitious andpersistent, he talked his way into workingin television, rising to become a producer/director for the BBC. He is credited withbringing many of the top UK celebritychefs to the small screen including GordonRamsay, Antony Worrall-Thompson, BrianTurner and James Martin.In 1994, he founded a food and drinkmarketing agency in London which wenton to run successful campaigns for LoydGrossman sauces, KETTLE Chips, PlymouthGin, Cobra Beer and other challenger brands.Wilfred subsequently fulfilled a lifelongambition and bought a small farm in Devonin 2000. This inspired him to develop andlaunch his own food brand the now verysuccessful The Black Farmer brand ofgluten-free foods.The Black Farmer has products in all themajor supermarkets and is best known forthe brand’s award-winning sausages. Thisyear Wilfred’s great triumph has been to getall of the UK supermarkets to get behindBlack History Month in October.They all agreed to sell special edition TheBlack Farmer sausages, featuring MarySeacole and Sergeant Lincoln Orville LynchDFM. Donations from the sale of theseproducts will be going to The Mary SeacoleTrust and The Black Cultural Archives.Having established the brand in the UK,Wilfred is launching this month The BlackFarmer Farmshop online. Always keen to bea pathfinder, it’s the first black-ownedmajor, national farmshop, selling up to150 product lines.When the The Black Farmer brandwas started, it was created to be aninternational brand and this year Wilfredis looking to export The Black Farmerproducts to Dubai, Canada and the US.In 2013, Wilfred nearly lost his life toAcute Myeloid Leukaemia. He spent ayear in hospital and in 2014 underwenta stem cell transplant. Since that time,he has suffered with Graft versus Hostdisease. However, his experience hasgiven him an even greater appetite forlife and supporting others.He has published two books, the firstThe Black Farmer Cookbook – a journeythrough his life in recipes; and mostrecently (2018) the much acclaimed“Jeopardy – The Danger of Playing itSafe” – an inspirational read for thosestarting or running their own businesses.In 2018, Wilfred set up The Hatchery, anincubator scheme for fledgling brands.The first brand to ‘hatch’ and hit themarket has been Smorgasbord SwedishMeatballs, a resounding success andalready achieving national listings inSainsbury’s, Asda and Costco, and thesecond, The Gym Kitchen, launched inJanuary 2020 in Asda stores.Wilfred was awarded an MBE forservices to farming in the 2020 NewYear’s Honours List.theblackfarmer.com@theblackfarmer@theblackfarmer7