Richard is an arable farmer at Manor Farm, Kelfield situated to the south of York in the county of Yorkshire, England.
The farm grows a wide variety of crops including bread wheat, malting barley and potatoes irrigated using trickle irrigation. Situated alongside the River Ouse, the farm sees an ever-increasing amount of flooding in recent years.
The farming enterprise has a strong focus environmental management, with 7% of the farmed area under managed habitat and further 25-40% of various cover and catch crops in the ground helping to capture carbon alongside other benefits. Since 2005, this combined with other voluntary measures, like hedgerow and tree planting, has seen a marked increase in the bio-diversity of the farm, without impacting on the quality and productive output. The focus on improving soil health is an important aspect of current work on the farm.
Richard has a degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Nottingham (BSc Hons), is a qualified agronomist (MBPR) and a member of the Society of the Environment and Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv). He is the current Chair of the NFU Environment Forum and sits on the Net Zero steering group. He also leads in a local initiative ‘Sustainable Landscapes’.