Richard Longthorp, 57, chairman of the Agri-Skills Strategy Group, receives an OBE for services to farming. He has been formally recognised for going to extraordinary lengths to try to save his industry's bacon.

He is also chairman of the England Council of Lantra, the Sector Skills Council for the environment and land-based sector, is on the board of the British Pig Executive and is a former chairman of the National Pig Association.

Mr Longthorp, who farms at Howden, East Yorkshire, wanted the award to be seen as recognition for the "unsung heroes" of farming.

Dorothy Fairburn, Yorkshire’s regional director of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), has received an MBE.

The farmer’s daughter from the North York Moors, where her brothers still farm, received the award for her services to rural affairs.

Roger Hosking, a Derbyshire farmer, provides employment and practical training at Highfields Happy Hens at Etwall. The farm has been recognised by organisations including the Youth Offending Service for helping young people who have had difficult lives.

Mr Hosking said he was "shocked and embarrassed" to learn he had been appointed MBE.

Youngsters involved in the project are taught skills such as working with animals, handling money and dealing with customers as a means of boosting their self-respect.

Buckinghamshire NFU member Bryan Edgley receives an MBE for services to the agricultural industry and local community. He farms 2,300 acres in a family partnership which includes craft and light industrial workshops, let cottages, flats and horse riding. His son, Charlie Edgley, manages the farming side of which the main crop is 1,950 acres of milling wheat

Farmers Union of Wales president, Gareth Vaughan, has been awarded the MBE in the New Year Honours List for services to agriculture.