Farm Manager of the Year Award for Harper Adams Student

Posted 1 March 2007

A Harper Adams student has won a prestigious national agricultural award. Adrian Cannon, who is studying a masters degree at the Shropshire-based university college has been named McCormick Tractors Farm Manager of the Year.

The 37-year-old, has been farm manager at the Great Tew Estate in Oxfordshire, while studying Rural Environment and Land Management part time at Harper Adams.

The judges said Adrian had shown originality and vision in transforming "a somewhat parochial business" into a leading example of a commercial English estate, giving it a bright future.

Adrian has restructured farming operations to reduce costs and improve profitability, helped staff develop new skills, and uncovered alternative sources of income, such as quarrying and a rally enterprise that makes use of poor land and simulated game shoots.

The Farm Manager of the Year award, sponsored by UK-based tractor manufacturer McCormick, is a national award that celebrates agricultural success stories in Britain.

"We sponsored the award this year because farming should not be afraid to trumpet its successes," said McCormick sales director, Jeremy Lamb. "Just as we strive for success in producing tractors that give farmers a performance edge, so many farmers and farm managers work hard and imaginatively to make a successful contribution to the country’s food production and care of the country environment."