The Earth Market farmer has been recognised for her dedication to preventing food waste at her property and transforming ingredients into products with a long shelf life.

After just three years at Carinya Downs in Lochinvar she has firmly cemented a lifelong path in small-scale agriculture where she has an intimate relationship with the natural world around her.

"It was a shock, I felt very honoured and surprised," she said.

"It's recognition of the innovative ways that I try to take a raw product and turn it into something else, so that what I don't use, or sell at the market, can be preserved and used."

Ms Rowcliff has developed a range of cordials, jams, dukkah, salt rubs and dried native herbs. She also has bees and makes a range of honey products, although that venture is uncertain with the varroa mite eradication zone now 500 metres from her property.

"At the moment there is a glut of citrus so I turn that into cordials. In the summer when there is a glut of berries and there are too many to eat all at once, I freeze some and then I turn them into jams."

Ms Rowcliff, a Wiradjuri woman, said farming helped her to connect with her indigenous roots. She has created her own brand to reflect this, called Native Inspired.

The award was created in memory of earth market farmer John Clarke, who died in April. Mr Clarke and his wife Liz Griffiths were well known for their Within Radius dried turmeric and other herbs.

The couple had an urban farm in Telarah before they made the move to Merriwa in the Upper Hunter.

"John was a wonderful innovator. If he needed to solve a problem he often had to invent the solution in what could only be described as the "best fitted-out shed" in Maitland," Ms Griffiths said.

"Having worked with timber (furniture making) and steel (manufacturing camper trailers) and having worked in the building industry in his early years, there seemed to be nothing John couldn't solve."

Ms Griffiths said their small-scale farm was filled with his innovations and his friends would call him McGyver, after the TV show.

"In the absence of a large-scale commercial washing machine, John invented a wash bay that allowed us to wash our turmeric, capture the waste water and reuse it for irrigation. I am still using the wash bay," she said.

"It is fair to say that he had a rich skill-set that is very rare in today's world and often only found in 'old farmers' who have been forced to innovate ... necessity is truly the mother of invention."

Slow Food Earth Market Maitland chairwoman Amorelle Dempster praised Ms Rowcliff for her unwavering enthusiasm for native foods and said she had the determination to make any farming goal a reality.

"We have recognised her efforts to pivot her business into reflecting her indigenous heritage. She's doing that in what she is growing and how she is very innovative with the products she creates," Ms Dempster said.

"We've given people the opportunity to incubate their business and their ideas, and we've seen people like Crissy come along."

Ms Rowcliff said the unwavering support of Ms Dempster, and the rest of the Earth Market Maitland family, had helped her to achieve her goals.

"I'd like to thank Amorelle and her team of volunteers for their wonderful support, they have been very encouraging and have wanted me to achieve and to make better produce," she said.

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