For twelve years, the British Farming Awards has shone a light on the best in British Farming. During this annual event, Britain's farming industry comes together to celebrate the achievements of its contemporaries.

The 2024 Arable Farmer of the Year finalists have been selected because the judges recognised their ongoing versatility and ability to navigate fluctuating commodity prices, unpredictable weather and evolving legislation, while continuing to achieve a profitable, sustainable business. Each finalist has made key changes to improve their farm, exploring new possibilities to help safeguard their businesses whether that be through progressive, environmental or more collaborative approaches, regardless of the farm size.

Finalists – Arable Farmer of the Year – Sponsored by Maschio Gaspardo

Nicholas Watts – Vine House Farm, Lincolnshire

Located in the Lincolnshire Fens is Vine House Farm, which until 1992, was a typical 160 Hectare fenland farm intensively farming crops resulting in negative implications for the local wildlife. Nicholas Watts, who owns the farm and runs the business alongside his three daughters and their husbands, noticed a decline in the farmland bird population and sought to rectify this by laying feed for the birds in his farmyards. The resulting influx of birds was such a spectacle that he organised an open day for local residents to view the feeding frenzy, which subsequently led to guests requesting to buy feed for their own gardens. 

Fast forward to present day and the farm which covers 1,400 hectares and employs 7 people. It grows and sells 2,500 tons of bird seed via mail order, with the variety dependent on which seeds are being grown at the time. This spans across sunflowers, red millet, white millet, canary seed, naked oats, rape and wheat. Over the last 30 years Nicholas has focused on creating habitat to welcome birdlife back to the farm, using newsletters to inform the public about the increased population success, which has led to an increase in visitors and bird seed sales. With visitors travelling long distances to visit the farm, he decided to build a 100 seater café and farm shop to satiate guests, and the café is full every day.

The farm is home to 8 x 2 megawatt wind turbines, and 2 x 100 kilowatt wind turbines, with solar panels on all suitable roofs and a biomass boiler heating the offices, museums and homes. There is also a heater that runs on the waste oil heat from the farm tractors which heats the bird seed factory. The bird seed business relies on 200 hectares of the farmland, Nicholas grows 100 hectares of potatoes and 80 hectares of sugar beet, with the remainder of the farmland growing typical fenland crops which go through a combine. During his career, Nicholas has been asked and agreed to farm three other farms, due to his respectful way of farming alongside the natural wildlife population without harming it. For 25 years the farm has been organic, making it more profitable than conventional farming and just as, if not more, productive.

Chris Greenaway – Garnstone Farms, Herefordshire

Farm manager, Chris Greenaway, works at Garnstone Farms, a 880 Hectare Monitor Farm, alongside its owner, James Verdin. The farm has a diverse offering including poultry, forestry, property, anaerobic digestion, beef and arable, with the arable side of the business including wheat, herbage seed, maize, whole crop, oil seed rape (OSR), beans and land let for tender stem broccoli. Chris takes charge of day-to-day decision making and forward planning decisions for the arable and beef side of the business, aiming to empower staff with quick decision making that requires initiative.

The farm operates a strip till with inter row companion crops drilled at 600mm spacings, with the maize using liquid starter fertiliser to improve growing rates. With the help of grants for machinery and equipment the crops are now variable rate N, resulting in improved crop yields in a cost-effective manner. In order to reduce damage from cabbage stem flee beetle (CSFB), Chris plants a companion crop before the OSR, this acts as a trap crop, which is destroyed along side the CSFB eggs and larvae.

Improving farm efficiency and enhancing timelines has been a focus for Chris, implementing numerous actions to achieve this, including improving the farms soil structure and the rotation which has allowed time for other aspects of the business. A new grain store has been built to improve crop drying and storage, with double mowers for herbage seed and tedders increasing harvesting speed, with a larger grain bucket advancing grain lorry loading timeliness. He has also introduced staff appraisals to encourage participation in business and personal development.

Moving forward Chris hopes to utilise the Sustainable Farming Incentive as much as possible, viewing it as an opportunity not an obstacle for business success, with income from the Basic Payment Scheme and stewardship being more than 2020, albeit before the decline of BPS. 

Ashley Jones – RM Jones, Cornwall

Ashley Jones, alongside his Mother and Father, farms 350 Hectares, a combination of the home farm and contracted land in South Cornwall. This family business is a classic west country farm with a combination of beef, sheep and arable farming, with diversification introduced in the form of Bed and Breakfast, maize maze and pumpkin patch.

Over the past 12 months, Ashley has introduced direct drilling and moved over to this new technique where possible. Direct drilling allows farmers to place seed in the stubble of the previous crop without any prior soil cultivation, primarily used in dryer regions, this method helps preserve soil fertility and reduce erosion. This has reduced the use of fertiliser and chemicals on the farm, not only does this limit costs by only applying fertiliser where needed, it improves soil health in an environmentally friendly manner.  

Concerns for the farm moving forward come in the terms of climate extremes, commodity prices, input costs, fertiliser, chemical and machinery costs. Adapting to the changing climate and rising input costs through different techniques will be key for the future success of the farm. Increasing precision and accuracy has let to less wasted input, and growing differing crops has softened the impact of output costs.

Often thinking about the future of the business, Ashley looks to make decisions that will support it for years to come. As the older generation looks towards retirement and the farm business adapts to a changing environment he is looking at expansion. He recently had the opportunity to take on more land in his own right as it becomes available for next generation farmers.

David Bird – NB Bird and Son, Suffolk  

NB Bird and Son is a family business based on a 350 hectare arable and pig farm comprised of David Bird and his parents. The arable side of the business is predominantly a no-till establishment, minimising cultivation through direct drilling techniques. David is focusing on taking steps to reduce fertiliser and pesticides, zeroing in on soil health and improving long term sustainability of the business through its soil. Moving to the no-till system has protected the business from fluctuating fertiliser and fuel costs, protecting it from unforeseen or unnecessary expenses. Implementing a focused fertiliser strategy by using liquid based fertilisers to balance the application to each crop and soil requirements has helped further reduce the amount needed. Similarly, continuing to use more foliar fertiliser will improve results, as nutrients are applied directly to the leaves and absorbed at a faster rate.

Introducing contract finishing pigs has helped to reintroduce nutrients into the soil which has improved its organic matter. The farms biggest challenges is the lack of sustainable grain crops. Currently the crops available have significant risks to growing with heightened costs, and David is always looking at opportunities and options to focus on growing profitable crops. 

David is continuously looking into both opportunities and challenges in the arable sector. Challenges include exposure to rising input costs that are seen throughout the agricultural industry, however, improving the environmental side of the business through fertiliser reduction put him in a better position to secure Sustainable Farming Incentive funding. Similarly private funding opportunities are increasing with companies looking to source low carbon schemes.

Taking place on October 17 at The VOX in Birmingham, the event will welcome industry professionals from across the country to celebrate British agriculture and the successes it has had this year.

Get your tickets here to celebrate with the finalists at The British Farming Awards: https://www.britishfarmingawards.co.uk/britishfarmingawards/en/page/table-packages