The Food Chain Scholarship

I grew up in rural Oxfordshire, but now live in Rutland with my partner Dan. We have a small sheep flock and an allotment, which keeps us busy outside of work.

I have always been passionate about...

Having spent time working in food service and distribution, I have since returned to the family farm in Oxfordshire, where I live with my wife and young son. The main focus of the farm is the arable...

My career so far has been varied but always centred around research. I have been very fortunate to have been able to combine my passion for plants with research during my Ph.D at the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, where in my spare time I learnt the art and skills of grafting fruit trees. After my studies, my growing interest in fruit crops led to a research position at East Malling Research (now NIAB EMR), where I developed a programme of research on fruit tree rootstocks and root development.

Having grown up on our family dairy farm in South West Scotland it was always my ambition to return home to progress and drive forward our farming operation. Since returning home to farm six years ago, alongside my brother, we have doubled our productive land area and quadrupled our milk output through developing a progressive and forward-thinking dairy farming business. 

I grew up in Nottinghamshire on a family run arable farm and went on to study Environmental Science at Nottingham University. Leaving university, I took up a position as an agricultural loss adjuster, dealing with a wide range of commercial insurance claims across the UK. I have always had a keen interest in travel and so when the opportunity arose to work as an international adjuster based out of Mexico City arose my girlfriend and I leapt at the chance.

I was born and brought up in County Durham, the land of the Prince Bishops and lived in an area surrounded by farms. I decided from a young age that working with food would be a lifelong passion...