New HGCA Monitor Farmer Tom Bradshaw has reached the finals of the Awards in the Arable Farmer of the Year category.

In the tenth year of the awards, three growers have been shortlisted as Arable Farmer of the Year, including Essex-based Tom Bradshaw. A farmer passionate about soils, Tom recently joined the HGCA’s UK-wide Monitor Farm scheme.

Tom is a partner in his family farm and grows 1,485ha of combinable crops – malting barley, milling wheat, peas and beans - to the west of Colchester in Essex. Apart from a small area of owned land, the majority is farmed under contracting arrangements and includes a wide range of soil types. He has been involved in Recommended Lists trials, and appeared on the BBC Harvest programme in 2013. Tom was recently elected to the NFU combinable crops board.

The first open meeting at Tom Bradshaw’s farm is on 26 June, where local growers will have the chance to find out more about the farm and help set the direction of the three-year Monitor Farm project there. Interested farmers should email east@hgca.ahdb.org.uk.