Farm Worker of the Year The Farmers' Country Showdown

Across the country,

thousands of farming families work tirelessly around the clock.

Bring them up, Isabel. Well done.

Here they come.

Shake it, baby, shake it.

But there's one day each year...

Come on, girl. Up you go.

..when they get to leave the daily routine behind.

These are show days...

Welcome to the Pembrokeshire County show.

..when they come together as a community...

Salute.

..to showcase the fruits of their labour...

Had a quick look at the competition.

I'm in with a chance.

..and try to win prizes for their breed champions...

Well done. Wahey!

It's show business, folks.

..and award-winning projects.

I got first!

Had the last two jars.

There will be highs...

Yes.

..and lows...

No, no, no no no.

..for the dedicated farmers who give everything to walk away a champion.

No way!

On almost every farm in the country, there are unsung heroes...

Good girlies. Come on. Push on. Push on.

..workers who keep the machines running...

..the animals nurtured,

and the crops growing.

The Farm Worker of the Year award recognises

the industrious and innovative employees who put their talents

and energy into the farms they work on.

Can I ask all our finalists to stand up?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

This year's three finalists are Hugh Sapsed from Bedfordshire,

Steph Adams from Cambridgeshire,

and Gary Hawker from Dorset.

This award will be recognition for the tireless graft

that often makes them the linchpin of the business.

Go on, girls. Come on, then.

-HE WHISTLES

-This way. Come on.

Only one of them will walk away with the coveted title

at the glittering ceremony taking place in just a few days' time.

And the winner of the 2017 Farm Worker of the Year...

For many people working in agriculture,

farming is in their blood.

But it is not always possible for them to farm their own land.

In Pertenhall, Bedfordshire,

Hugh Sapsed didn't let a small thing like that

get in the way of doing a job he loves.

My father, he farmed.

Grandfather farmed.

I suppose I am from the poor side of the family and, you know,

some of us are workers.

I left school on the Friday...

..and started work on the Monday.

Hugh has worked on other people's farms

his entire life.

And he has been at John Sheard farms for the last 14 years.

We're a 2,500 acre farm,

spread out probably over 16 miles,

five, six farms.

The six farms Hugh works across grow arable crops...

..including oilseed rape,

wheat,

barley and oats.

He also looks after all the buildings.

There's a lot of work to be done, and it's varied, you know?

When we're not doing this sort of stuff,

the farming side of things, then, you know,

we are doing general maintenance, estate maintenance,

houses, buildings,

hedges, roadways...

So there's everything, all the time.

I knew him as a friend before he came to work here,

and knew he was the sort of guy

we wanted to take on,

knew his experience.

As time's gone on, the sprayer driver left,

so he went on the sprayer, the combine driver left,

so he went on the combine.

So he's adapted to the business,

as the business has required somebody to adapt.

The role of the farm worker has changed dramatically over the years.

The rise of intensive methods and the use of specialist machinery

mean that employees have to constantly learn new skills.

To be on a farm this size, 30 years ago,

there probably would have been 40 people.

And they used casual labour.

And that has all gone, and now there's the three of us.

-So what's happened, then?

-Broke the PTO shaft.

-OK.

-Just worn...worn through?

Yeah, worn out.

In terms of the physicality of the job, it's reduced quite a lot.

Over the last 15 years, the amount of technical stuff

and technical things they have to deal with

has increased dramatically,

and that just goes on and on and on and on and on.

Things get bigger and faster.

And that's the way farming's going.

But if you haven't got the staff to cope with these things,

then you're going to get left behind.

Like anybody in my game,

we're jack of all trades.

So we can be electricians, we can be plasterers,

we can be painters, decorators...

Anything.

It's not like a 9-5 office job,

where everything is the same old thing.

Pushing a pen round a bit of paper would drive me insane.

Hugh's restless energy is a boon for the farm,

perhaps less so for wife Cathy.

He never sits still. He drives me round the bend.

He cannot relax.

He has to do things.

He sometimes repairs things on the village playing field,

the equipment.

If anybody needs a hand with something, he'll do it.

He's very conscientious.

Very conscientious.

The couple have been married for 30 years, after an unpromising start.

We met through Young Farmers,

which is, today, probably would be Tinder.

A couple of my friends who I worked with, they went to Young Farmers,

persuaded me to go there, and that's how we met.

And even she'll say, we didn't get on at the start.

He was really boring, actually, to start with.

Because it was just farming.

You'd go out and he would be with friends

and they would just talk about farming.

But Hugh managed to keep Cathy interested long enough

to capture her heart,

and five years later, Freddie was born.

Followed by Iona,

who is in her last year of agricultural college.

When he used to work on the other farm, he used to work all day,

all night, when it was harvest.

He's always dedicated to working hard,

and he does a lot for the business.

Like, you should have seen it, building things...

Unless I went on the combine with him, I didn't really see him much.

No, it was just...tea times, when Mum used to bring the tea out,

and then we'd have time together.

-Yeah.

-And that's sort of precious time, isn't it,

because you were growing up and we didn't get that time...?

-Back then.

-Yeah.

-So I would only spend like

the evenings with him, like an hour or so on the combine.

Normally me, like, falling asleep.

His job is very important to him,

and if he is ploughing,

it has to be in a dead straight line.

If he's combining, it has to be the best cut that he can do

with the least wastage.

It's...

He is not a perfectionist at home, at all,

but he is when he's at work.

On any given day,

Hugh could be maintaining machinery,

working on one of the farm buildings,

or spraying or harvesting the crops,

until late into the evening.

So it's a mystery how he has also managed to fit in 12 years

in the local Fire Service.

I would have been in my, like, early teens.

He used to work all day and then he might get called out

at like one o'clock in the morning and then go do a fire...

Three or four hours, and come back.

..and then come back and then work on the farm all day.

But it is that thing of giving it back to the community, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

-I've lived here all my life,

-and therefore, I could give my bit back.

-Back, yeah, exactly.

-And it was just nice.

-It was long hours.

-Very long hours.

-It was long hours.

What has propelled Hugh into the final three for this year's award

is the way he has worked to save the farm time and money.

We've made gateways and bridges into the fields bigger

so that instead of... Like, this morning, you saw the sprayer,

so instead of having to fold that up every time and go through,

we can go straight through,

so therefore you're gaining time.

All in all, Hugh has managed to save the farm 50 working days a year.

The time in farming where you can actually go and be at maximum output

is very limited, these days,

so if you get an extra half an hour or an extra hour at any point

in the day, they soon add up to a good period over the week

and over the whole year they do add up to a significant amount of time.

But Hugh's motivation is not just about the farm work.

In the early years, I was working a lot of hours,

and I probably, like a few of my friends,

missed my children growing up.

So now I'm probably making up for that, by the hours we've saved now,

we spend with the kids.

I think the older you get, you appreciate life more,

and your work-life balance is very important.

We are only here once,

you have to make the most of it.

And ever community-spirited,

he has also managed to find time to trounce the village

-with a new hobby.

-Is this a winner?

-It's good.

-The fruit's good.

With our village, we have a harvest festival

and we have a "Man's Cake",

which is quite competitive.

And about two years ago, I won that for the first time.

I had entered it for about nine years,

and two years ago managed to get that,

and, ironically, will be known for that.

With so much to offer the farm, and the community,

it should come as no surprise

that Hugh was nominated for the Farm Worker of the Year award.

There are a lot of people throughout the whole of the UK

who are really good farm workers, very, very dedicated people.

And I'm sure most of them will be worthy of going forward

into Farm Worker of the Year if they were given the opportunity.

Famous last words.

So if you did win,

what should we do the next day to celebrate?

We could go to a show.

We could stay in London an extra night, we could go to see Evita.

-Are you doing this cos it is on camera?

-Yeah.

LAUGHTER

Course I'm proud, yeah!

Yeah, he deserves it.

Farming's in his blood.

He has always enjoyed it,

he's always been interested.

It is more than just a job, it's a lifestyle, really.

And he does everything that he can on the farm

to the best of his ability.

To go as the farm group and as a family,

yeah, that will be very exciting.

And to go to somewhere...

the biggest event in the farming calendar, probably,

will be very, very exciting.

I think it's absolutely brilliant for him.

I just hope he goes on and wins it.

Hopefully, I'll get a modelling contract.

That's what he thinks, he's going to get a modelling contract.

On the tractors, posing.

You can't do that, you're too old!

Can I win it?

You don't go to come second.

Erm...

Who knows?

Just 21 miles away, in Caxton, Cambridgeshire,

lives our next Farm Worker of the Year nominee.

Steph Adams has worked on Firs Farm almost his entire working life.

I was born into farming.

Dad's farmed, his father farmed.

There wasn't enough work at home on the farm, so...

..that's why I'm here!

It is my life, here.

I step out my front door, and I'm at work.

I don't know what else I could do, I just love being here.

His boss is John Millard,

whose family have owned this farm for 50 years.

Steph's been with us for about 37 years.

He was brought up on his parents' farm.

And then had a job for about a year on another farm,

then came to us.

I can't remember the year he joined us, but he was about 18 years old.

Firs Farm spans 70 acres,

with arable crops including wheat and grass,

and a herd of cattle.

Steph works both.

I suppose I'm jack of all trades and master of none, really.

I've got one of two certificates to prove I can do some work, but...

..I don't think there's anything

I don't like doing on the farm, really. Just accept the bad ones

and just get on and do them and go home when it's done.

It's lunchtime, and Steph is checking up on the cows.

If I try and touch her, she'll knock me over.

I'm not going near her.

She'll put her head down, I should think.

Or back away. Most of these are bred...

You know,

have been born on the farm.

Haven't you? Eh?

A lot of these cows I pulled out of their mothers, you know?

He has a special affinity with the animals,

though there has been the odd occasion

where his Dr Dolittle magic doesn't quite work.

This one here, when she had her first calf...

..I pulled the calf out of her.

And it was doing all right and I went and had my breakfast

and came back out, I went in to put the tag

in the calf's ear, and she chased me across the yard,

and I went straight over the wall to get away from her.

I trusted her too much.

Didn't I? Eh?

There's never time to linger long on one job.

And when Steph is not being the cow whisperer,

he puts a completely different set of skills to work.

A brilliant inventor and mechanic,

Steph has saved the farm thousands of pounds

by adapting equipment to make it more efficient,

meaning the farm does not have to invest in new.

Always something to do.

Never have to look far to find something to do.

I've modified and built different parts of machinery.

Tried to make them run better.

A 40-foot trailer,

replacement axles on a 20-tonne manure truck,

and a telescopic ram for moving hay are just a few of his creations.

I think to work with Steph, starting in this trade,

was the best thing that could have happened, you know?

Just from farming in general with cattle or pigs, things like that,

to tractors, mechanics...

And he has taught me things I didn't even know, so...he's really good.

He is probably the best mentor that anybody could have.

He sets the standard high, you know.

I'm a young guy, I thought that I could do the big hours,

but he has definitely put me to my paces.

His piece de la resistance...

..is making a unique attachment for moving hay.

The initial thing was...

We can't go down the road with this sticking out the front,

obviously, so I designed it so...

..when we go down the road, we just hook the tines up.

I see a bit of kit and I think, well, how can I improve on that?

And when you sit there all day just looking at it,

you keep thinking all these things all the time.

Steph's customised forklift truck

can carry twice as much hay as a normal one,

which halves the time he takes to do the job.

And he's already quicker than most.

I sit and watch this one, I keep thinking, well,

if I put some hydraulic rams in the middle,

I can make it telescopic up for different-sized bales.

That might be the next project, if I went any further with this one.

It is all designed in my head,

how to make this extendable.

There is not such a thing as a problem.

It's just how we get round it, and solve it.

Yeah.

Steph, with his innovative ability

to repair machinery and equipment,

has saved us probably £60,000 over the years.

Maybe more. Maybe more.

Although his colleagues sing his praises,

Steph is reluctant to blow his own trumpet.

I suppose my role in the farm is almost jack of all trades.

I don't think there's anything that really stands out.

I like it when I go home at night and I've made something,

and I think "I've actually done something today."

It is when I get home and think,

"Well, I haven't done anything today,"

but I've been up here all day,

and I don't like that.

I like to feel like I have done something.

He's very, very comfortable with animals,

which shows a side of him that is...

..I would say, a very humane side.

He's a man of few words but he's very, very down to earth.

You know, he's very easy to come across.

Teaching, he's very easy to understand.

He's incredibly humble.

He'd never sing his own praises.

He's got a sense of humour.

I don't think I have ever seen the man lose his temper at all

in all the time I've known him.

Wanting him to get the recognition he so well deserves,

John nominated Steph for this year's Farm Worker Award.

He is certainly not a jack of all trades,

he's just a master of all trades.

He's far superior to that.

Steph is invaluable,

and I think we're very lucky with the staff we've got,

but I nominated him because I feel he deserves it,

for what he's contributed to this business.

You get a lot of people who are specialists either

in tractor driving and machinery,

or people who are specialists in livestock.

You don't get many people who can specialise

in all the different aspects of a mixed farm like this.

When John got nominated me for the award, I wasn't...

I don't think I was over-keen.

And I thought, it'll be all right, cos it won't come to anything...

..and it has done.

If Steph wins...

..it'll be absolutely fantastic,

and well-deserved,

for everything he's done for this farm,

and agriculture in general.

170 miles south,

in the pretty Dorset countryside,

is Clandon Farm,

where the last of this year's nominees lives and works.

Gary Hawker has been a herdsman on this 730-acre dairy farm

for over 20 years.

I'm the fourth-generation herdsman.

My great-grandfather started us off on this path many, many moons ago.

That's it, girl. Come on.

HE WHISTLES

Good girlies. Push on it, push on it.

Push on it.

Every day, Gary is up at 5am to prepare for the morning's milking.

With 434 cows to milk,

and another 250 calves and bulls to keep an eye on,

even by farming standards,

Gary has a lot on his plate.

Farming is very hard work.

It takes a lot of our time up,

and I think you have to be sort of passionate

to...make it work for yourself.

I really enjoy what I do...

especially getting covered in that every day!

You know, it's a way of life, but it's something that I enjoy,

I'm quite passionate about,

so, yeah, so I enjoy it immensely.

Ready?

Oh, look at that!

Gary's partner, Australian-born Kimeree,

never imagined she would end up

being a farmer's other half in Dorset.

I'm...sort of from the suburbs, in Sydney.

Yeah, no, so this was a big change for me,

to have met a farmer, and think,

"Oh, wow! My life's going to change big-time,"

so yes, yeah.

The couple have a six-year-old son, Max,

and Kimeree often has to juggle running the home

and the job as a preschool teacher.

It's tough, it's hard.

You know, especially, now, with having Max with us...

..you know, trying to sort of balance the life and the farm

is really difficult.

Gary's heart is here. He enjoys his work.

We can go days before we'll see him.

But Gary's working on it.

Come on!

HE WHISTLES

Come on, darling. Come on.

These are tough times for dairy farmers.

Margins are always tight.

The only way to survive is to diversify,

or to become even more efficient than before.

Under Gary's stewardship, this farm has done the latter.

When I first came here, we had two dairies,

one all-year round calving,

one was autumn calving,

and now we've amalgamated them into one,

so yeah, the farm's definitely changed over the 20 years

I've been here, and now we're on once-a-day milking,

so we've completely sort of flipped from 20 years ago.

Most dairy farms in the UK milk their cows twice a day

to get the highest yield possible,

which can mean extra labour and energy costs.

Part of going once-a-day was to see if we could get away with

perhaps three people working on the farm and see,

you know, see where we can push the farm,

as in cutting costs as well as, you know,

trying to do a good quality job at the same time.

The experiment was a success.

Although the yield dipped slightly,

the benefits to going once-a-day were a much richer milk.

With the once-a-day, we get better butterfat and protein,

which hopefully, will boost up our pence per litre,

so it doesn't cost us as much to make,

as perhaps a conventional system.

With this superior milk,

Gary had opened up the opportunity to supply a higher-paying customer.

We supply our milk to an award-winning cheese company,

so it is paramount that we produce a high butterfat

and high protein quality milk.

That's some of the reason for the milk recording,

is to make sure that we're producing a good,

clean, high quality milk produce for them to make cheese.

Always keen to push innovation,

Gary had a plan to feed the cows with more of

the most natural, abundant crop farm had to offer.

We're basically trying to time the calving block to make the most of,

make the most use of grass.

We're just trying to feed as much of this,

cos it's a much cheaper form of feed for them,

so we've always got grass in front of the cows.

Grazing outside for ten months of the year is not for all cows.

Well, we started off with a predominantly

British Friesian type cow,

probably about 18 years ago,

and then, we've crossbred them with Jersey

and New Zealand cross type Friesian bulls,

so what we're trying to look for is a small statured animal,

that can basically cope with outdoor life, really.

These ones, they do really well on a grazing system

so they'll put their heads down and start grazing this grass,

and start turning it into a high butterfat and protein milk.

Thanks to Gary's changes,

the farm is selling its higher quality milk for more money,

running more efficiently,

and now he has more free time for his family...

..in theory.

He came home and tried to sell me this new system

that they have introduced now, once-a-day milking,

and sold it to me by saying,

it's supposed to support our work-life balance.

Yes, I shall be home at a particular time every day, and be there, and...

And so I waited for that time to come along, and I wait, and I wait.

It's not meeting the goals!

It seems once a farmer, always a farmer!

He can't walk away from that and just go, "I need to go home."

He'll just always find something else to do and, you know,

there might be something that needs cleaning,

or there might be a cow that's, you know, ill or lame,

and he'll just stay with them until the vet gets there,

so, there's a slight difference, but...

..not 100%, I have to say,

but I think it's going to take time.

Gary's dedication to the farm has not gone unnoticed.

Gary's one of life's nice guys.

He's one of life's guys where there's always a smile on the face.

Yeah, he's always got time for people,

and a very hard-working person as well,

who takes his job seriously,

and does a very good job.

Come on, girls. Come on, then!

-WHISTLING

-This way, come on.

You know, he treats the cows here as kind of part of the family, really,

and he does what he can to make sure that he gets things right.

Farm vet Andrew has worked with Gary for 20 years,

and was responsible for nominating him for

the Farm Worker of the Year award.

You know, he needs a reward for what he does.

Day in, day out, he's doing this, and he doesn't ask for any reward,

but you kind of think, sometimes, some of these people are

the ones that need a little bit of recognition.

There's a lot of good farmers out there,

so I'm very honoured to think

that I'm amongst a lot of very good operators in dairying.

Then I realised how big the awards were...

and then I realised what I'd sort of let myself in for, but like I said,

it's been a good process to go through.

I haven't stopped smiling for him.

He's a really understated chap,

and he never blows his own trumpet,

so I'm just...

I'm proud and excited for him.

Lose the overalls, put a dickie bow on,

for the first time ever.

It'll be a roomful of uncomfortable farmers, I would imagine,

used to wearing boiler suits and T-shirts more so than that!

These three hard-working men

have committed themselves without reservation

to the farms in which they work.

Their strong work ethic, and innovation,

has been key to the success of these farms.

And tomorrow night, at the Farmers Weekly awards,

one of them will walk away with this year's title

of Farm Worker of the Year.

The 13th annual Farmers Weekly awards are being held

in the heart of London's Mayfair.

Tonight, this prestigious event will bring together over 500 farmers

and their families from all over the UK...

..coming together to celebrate the industry's greatest success stories.

As the finishing touches are made to the Great Banqueting Hall,

a night of glitz and glamour beckons.

This is the biggest night in the farming calendar.

These are the Oscars of farming,

so it's a huge deal.

Winning one of these awards is a fantastic achievement for a farmer.

They really value it, and if you're in any doubt,

just look at their reaction when they win the awards.

Gary and his partner Kimeree have been together for 15 years,

but this is their first-ever black tie event together.

-Look presentable?

-LAUGHTER

-I don't know!

-I know, that's what I mean!

It's very rare that we get dressed up like we are now.

We didn't have these in the cupboard!

No, no. No, they had to be purchased especially for this evening, so...

-Yeah.

-So, yeah. So it's a far cry from what we're used to back home.

Jeans, welly boots and big baggy jumpers!

Yeah!

Not everyone is that excited about getting dressed up.

I think I'd rather be sat in my tractor!

Messing around with this tie!

More at home in his workshop,

Steph is trying to adjust to being in the spotlight.

I'm pleased to be here.

Pleased that I was nominated to be here.

But I shall just take it all as it comes, and see what happens!

Also ditching their boiler suits and wellies,

arable farm worker Hugh, his family, and work friends

are already making a night of it.

-Cheers, everybody!

-To Hugh!

Cheers!

I wasn't nervous but I am a little bit, now, cos it's real.

We're here, and the buzz of it all...

but we're here to have a good time whatever.

And it's exciting coming to London,

because we live in the country,

and you don't get this buzz so you just make the most of it.

Who doesn't like to get dressed up?

I wouldn't like to do it every day, but it's good to do it...

Oh, I don't know. I could get used to it!

With such high-calibre entries,

this year's judges have had a tough job deciding on a winner.

We're looking for standout people,

people who are totally reliable,

who have gone that extra mile.

I think all three of the finalists tonight,

they should all be really proud of themselves.

Each of our nominees deserves their place on this year's shortlist.

Steph Adams, we went to his farm,

you could tell that the owner was so proud of him

and he had nominated him.

He could lay his hand to anything.

Baler man, forager, straw loader...

You could see it all round the farm,

and everybody we spoke to was just going,

this chap is the best at doing all these jobs.

Hugh Sapsed, really good candidate.

Again, the owner had great admiration for him.

He was a great member of the team.

Some of the building work he'd done on the farm

was of the highest order.

It was really impressive.

Gary Hawker was a standout man with his livestock.

You could see his passion for farming, and his livestock.

He's now looking after a big dairy herd,

single day milking, and that takes a lot of management, that does,

and by goodness, he really did stand out.

He really knew his stuff.

Any discomfort at being in their smart clothes soon disappears,

as the night gets under way.

This is amazing!

And Gary's met a long-lost friend, who he grew up with 30 years ago,

so it's amazing, absolutely.

Yeah!

We're looking to have a really good, fun night tonight,

and that's the most important thing, actually,

that the people here enjoy themselves.

This is a very different environment

from the one they spend their day-to-day life in.

This is a big night out for them,

and I want to make sure they have a really good time.

It's such a great atmosphere. We're having such a good time that...

..anything could happen, and if he wins, that's great.

If he doesn't, it's still going to be amazing.

As the guests take their seats...

Am I there?

..it's time to settle in,

and relish making it this far.

Can we have the lights up, please?

And can I ask all our finalists to stand up?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

If Steph won, I'd be delighted, because of all his skills,

just a master of everything, really, whether it's livestock, machinery,

or every aspect of farming.

Very thorough, very honest, as well as all his skills.

This morning, we were sort of waiting at home

and then there's the journey up here.

At least now we're here, so yeah, it's become a lot more real now.

So...it's good!

These hard-working men and women can enjoy

being looked after by someone else for a change.

There's just time before the ceremony begins

to suss out the competition,

as the three nominees find each other.

You're dairy, I'm arable, and you're...

-You're a bit mixed, aren't you?

-You're a bit mixed.

-A bit of everything.

-So it's all good, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-I've got him down to win.

-Have you?

-I don't know...

It's so difficult...

He's young and good-looking!

LAUGHTER

Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats, please.

It's almost time to celebrate the finalists,

and reveal the winners, on this night with the stars,

a reminder of our stellar finalists in the 2017 Farmers Weekly awards!

APPLAUSE

Would you please welcome your host for the evening,

Gyles Brandreth!

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

If you are wondering why I am here this evening,

then already we have something in common!

LAUGHTER

But there is nowhere that I would rather be

than with the beautiful people of British farming.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Welcome to the Farmers Weekly awards 2017!

-Hurray!

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Over the course of the evening,

18 awards will be presented,

in categories ranging from Young Farmer of the Year

to a lifetime achievement award.

Next, ladies and gentlemen,

we come to Agricultural Student of the Year.

The winner is Josh Dowbiggin.

While they watch others win for their impressive achievements...

The winner is Chris Bayliss!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

..it's a nervous wait for the farm workers.

Feel more relaxed now we're at the table,

and at the event and it's started, like.

-So no, really good.

-Yeah, it's good.

And the atmosphere is electric.

It's amazing, absolutely amazing. It's so nice.

Just to be with a group of fun people.

It's absolutely... Yeah, it's brilliant.

Feeling good, we're sat down and got started. Yes.

-There is such a buzz.

-It's such a buzz, it's so loud.

-It's electric.

It's so good. It really is fantastic.

Finally, it's the moment they've been waiting for.

Just a little bit nervous.

HE GIGGLES

And now, we come to what I think is one of the most significant awards

of the evening, Farm Worker of the Year.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Here we go, folks.

The truth is, I don't know much about farming,

but I have to say, from what I've seen,

these guys seem to be the unsung heroes of farming.

-They're amazing.

-Well, Gyles,

on that Farm Workers shortlist are...

..from Firs Farm, Caxton, Cambridgeshire,

-Stephen Adams!

-CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Steve uses an immense experience

across a variety of roles on the farm,

including baling 18,000-20,000 bales of hay and straw a year.

He's also a prolific welder,

a telehandler operator,

and is renowned as the best wagon loader around.

From Clandon Farm, Dorchester, Gary Hawker.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Gary has a forensic desire for improvement,

and driving efficiencies within his 435-strong milking herd.

He's successfully overseen the farm's transition

from twice to once-a-day milking,

whilst ensuring high animal welfare, and optimum levels of fertility.

And from Hoo Farm, Pertenhall, in Bedfordshire, it's Hugh Sapsed.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hugh lives by the mantra of not making work hard for yourself

but keeping things simple, doing jobs well.

He's a multi-talented farm worker across every facet of the business,

and has been instrumental in saving valuable time

and winning new business.

Three strong finalists, again.

Only one can be Farm Worker of the Year, Gyles.

Just to be here,

these three farm workers have shown exceptional loyalty,

ingenuity, and a tireless dedication to farming.

And the winner of the 2017 Farm Worker of the Year is...

..Hugh Sapsed!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Congratulations it is.

Farm Worker of the Year, Hugh Sapsed!

Brilliant. I didn't think my name was going to be called out,

and as I've said many a time,

I'm no better than anybody else.

It's just my turn.

Oh...

Oh, bless!

-Little bit disappointed, but...

-Never mind.

Again, we're just happy to be here!

It's not often that you get chosen to be the final three

in a category that you work hard at, so no, we...

Hopefully, we can build on this and, you know,

keep working hard in the future to progress in the business

that we're in.

Yes, I've enjoyed the experience tonight.

-I think we both have.

-Yes.

It will be nice to get home,

get back in my own bed, and then get up in the morning.

It'll be a late morning, I suppose.

And then, I hope the sun's going to shine,

and we're going to get on with some work!

POP

CHEERING