Even up to last year and well into his 80s, dedicated farmer and food producer Maurice Buchanan was still coming to family board meetings.

The two sons of the Gressingham Foods founder have paid tribute to their "very determined, very fair and very generous" father, who died last week aged 86.

Aged 30, Maurice, along with wife Miriam and their two baby sons, William,  two, and Geoffrey, one, arrived at Ipswich train station in 1968 to begin a new life.

Maurice - the son of a mixed livestock and arable farmer from Dungannon in Northern Ireland - was the eldest of eight and had a brother and six sisters who survive him.

While working on the farm in Dungannon he launched a pig farm - but eventually decided his future lay in England.

The family came first to Westerfield, near Ipswich, before settling on what was then a six acre plot of land at Debach, near Woodbridge. His uncle, Cyril Buchanan, had already come over to Suffolk and settled in Otley.

Maurice built a chicken shed - as well as a bungalow for his family to live in on the site - starting with the £10k he arrived in Suffolk with and a £10k loan.

It was to be the beginnings of a highly successful farm business which later pivoted to duck meat - along with other niche products including geese - and Christmas turkeys.

"He was the last one - there were lots of people farming ducks in the 1980s when he started. He was actually one of the last to start farming ducks but he ended up being the most successful - and certainly the one that made duck prominent in the supermarkets as it is today," said William.

"He was always prepared to look at something new and change the direction of the business. It was always farming and food."

After building the business, Maurice, then aged 65,  handed the reins to his two sons - and today Gressingham is still growing at a healthy rate under the second generation.

"William and I became joint MDs in 2003 of the business and that obviously was a big turning point," said Geoff.

"We had both been in the business for 10 or 12 years by then. It showed he was forward-thinking but allowed us to bring other ideas into the business. He was probably about 65 then and still in good health."

Today the business enjoys a bumper turnover of £170m a year, employs 750 people and provides a useful diversification for 30 local contract farmers.

The company has become the biggest duck producer in the UK - as well as producing about 15% of turkeys for the UK Christmas market, and about 70% of its much smaller Christmas goose market.

But despite putting in place succession plans, Maurice remained dedicated to the business he created long after he officially stood down.

"He was still coming to board meetings up to last year - you can't say he ever retired," said Geoff.

He was unassuming, he added, and "very determined obviously, always learning, very fair as well as between Will and I and very generous as well".

William recalled his generosity. "Geoffrey and I have got seven children between us. He's always been very kind and taken us on lots of holidays and enjoyed lots of meals out together."

He added: "He never regretted a decision - not saying all his decisions were correct but some of them were. He was always looking forwards."

His death was a "huge loss", he said. But added: "We are determined to carry on growing and developing with the same determination he would have done."

Geoff added: "It's really struck me over the last week we are obviously very, very sad but he's going to be missed by so many other people as well - lots of friends and the community of Suffolk."

Miriam described her husband as "humble". Outside of the business, Maurice was a passionate Ipswich Town Football Club fan and supported local churches at Charsfield, Wickham Market, Hasketon and St John's as well as helping the Boys' Brigade at Hasketon. He was also involved in Gideon's International, which distributes bibles to schools, hotels and other institutions.