ARABLE (ORGANIC), CAMBRIDGESHIRE: Stephen is a first generation farmer and has been farming organically for over two decades, building up from 22 acres (9 hectares) to 576 acres (233 hectares). He grows organic cereals - wheat, barley and oats - for seed and gluten-free markets. He has also grown organic vegetables, including broccoli, cauliflower, beetroot and leeks. In 2009 he planted 2,400 apple trees within his cropland to create the largest commercial agro-forestry system in the UK. He makes and sells organic apple juice and, in 2017, converted a farm building into a shop, cafe and education centre.

Stephen is passionate, and extremely knowledgeable, about the resource upon which all farming depends - soil. He has an MSc in Soil Science and he’s Head of Technical Development at Innovation for Agriculture (a charity which communicates the latest research and emerging technologies to farmers, so they can run productive businesses while improving the environment and animal welfare) and is a non-executive director of the UK's Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB). He’s a member of expert steering groups at the Sustainable Soils Alliance and DEFRA’s new Environment Land Management Scheme (ELMS) and DEFRA's Lowland Peat Taskforce. He’s also an ambassador for the Woodland Trust and runs an independent organic farm business consultancy, Abacus Agriculture.