FARMER OF THE YEAR 2009

Nick Padwick has been the farm manager for The Co-operative Group's flagship farm at Stoughton Estate for eight years. 

The farm is situated opposite the entrance to Stoughton Airport on Gartree Road and does the usual farming things, but better!  The scientific and pioneering approach, attention to detail and “bringing everything together in one big farm system” has won Nick the accolade of Farmers Weekly magazine's ‘Farmer of the Year 2009'. 

Nick is passionate about ways to improve the soil and manage a farm in a responsible way, with high standards of care for the environment and wildlife.  He is keen to encourage all visitors to learn from the farm and adopt healthy lifestyles.  ‘From Farm to Fork', is one of Nick's projects that gives children from local schools a hands-on opportunity to learn about different crops and the process of getting food from the farm to the dinner plate.  (All this started in 2005, long before Jamie Oliver came along!) 

A 4-acre field has become an outdoor classroom with huts and facilities for teaching and cooking.  All the food needed to produce a pizza is grown under a poly tunnel. Students have access to raised beds for gardening, and places to cook. 

A recent, and unusual, addition to the farm is a dry toilet! This is housed in a purpose-built shed and is made of 100% recyclable materials. Pupils learn how human waste can be recycled and used as a sustainable way of getting more organic matter into the soil, while saving water at the same time.

This photograph shows Nick Padwick and the roof of the dry toilet which is planted up as a garden.

Stoughton Estate covers over 1,700 hectares. It makes up part of the 50,000 acres, across England and Scotland, farmed by The Co-operative Farms – the UK's largest farming business.

For further information and to arrange a school visit, contact 259 2342.

Helen Pettman