I grew up on the family farm in Kent and worked there during school holidays. I went to Durham University and studied environmental science. In 2002 I did a postgraduate course in Agriculture at the Royal Agriculture University. When I did come home to the farm in 2003 farming was at a pretty low ebb. We had experienced £60/t wheat and spending a lot of time ploughing and cultivating did not make economic sense. So this got me interested in minimum tillage. This interest led into looking closer at soil and soil health and I started doing a lot of reading around soils, conservation agriculture and regenerative agriculture. My research made me realise there was another way of farming that did not involve high energy and chemical inputs. I now have a mini-library at home of books on sustainable agriculture. My motivation is to be able to produce food with minimum inputs, I believe it makes economic, environmental and social sense. This whole goal depends on us improving soil health.

One of the goals I set for myself on the home farm is to reduce our artificial inputs by 50% in five years, we are in year 4 of the 5. I believe it is possible and we will still be able to maintain yields. Through doing the Nuffield Scholarship and meeting inspirational farmers from around the world I have seen first-hand that my goal is possible (read more). My travels abroad and the experiences on my home farm have given me a lot of insights in how to apply a systems approach to improve soil health and I hope to help others achieve their goals.