Derrick Frigot received the World Dairy Expo International Person of the Year award at America’s largest annual dairy show held in Winsconsin earlier this month.
The award is made to an individual who has contributed to the improvement of international relations or the development of the dairy industry on an international level. It is endorsed and signed off by the President of the United States.
Mr Frigot has spent more than 50 years in the industry as an advocate of the special qualities of the Jersey cow at home and around the world.
‘I am thrilled that it has been given to me for my life’s work promoting the dairy cow and the dairy industry,’ he said. ‘It comes at a time when the Jersey, which is the second-largest dairy breed in the world, is increasing in number year by year. This is down to the quality and strength of the breed and the breeders who have made it so.’
It is the second time an Islander has received the award. The late dairy farmer Anne Perchard was honoured in 2012.
World Dairy Expo is a five-day event showcasing dairy cattle and the newest technologies available to the industry. The show has been held annually since 1967 in Madison, Wisconsin. It is considered among the industry worldwide to be the most important dairy cattle show in North America.
Mr Frigot was made an MBE in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to agriculture, specifically relating to his work with Jersey cows.
Mr Frigot is co-author of the book The Dairy Queen: A History of the Jersey Breed Worldwide. He was raised on a local dairy farm and his uncle was a top national breeder and exporter of Jersey cows.
Today, he is the owner of the British Jersey semen company Jisex, and a number of champion cows in the Island and America.
He is currently the president of the World Jersey Cattle Bureau, a post also held by Mrs Perchard.
Mr Frigot is due to return to America next week to lead the annual Jersey dairy farmers’ trip to North America, which will culminate at the All American Jersey Cattle Show in Louisville, Kentucky, from 6 November.
