Derbyshire farmer and wildlife champion named NFU community farming hero

Amy Wheelton, who farms sheep and crops, at Walton-on-Trent, near Swadlincote, was nominated for the title on Back British Farming Day (10 September).

Since its launch in 2016, the NFU has used the day to celebrate farms in Derbyshire and across the country putting the spotlight on the value of farmers as food producers and for the role they play in their communities, for the economy and environment.

Amy was nominated by the NFU’s online Back British Farming supporters who are interested in and champion those working 365 days a year to feed the nation and care for our countryside.

The nomination said: “Amy is helping to protect wildlife and encourage pollinators by farming through regenerative agriculture and environmental schemes.

“She is a district and county councillor and introduced an ecology motion which is now a nature policy for her district council.”

Amy said she was humbled to be nominated and proud to be a part of the British farming community.

She said: “You need a farmer three times a day and farmers are part of the solution to protecting the environment.

“I’ve been doing environmental work on the farm for 17 years, and it’s part of how I live and farm every day.

“We’re here to be guardians of the land and we should always leave it in a better way than we find it.

“I love seeing all the wildlife through my wildlife corridors, woodlands, margins and hedgerows, and I want to protect that.

“If you’ve got no pollinators, you’ve got no food.

“We need more affordable, healthy food, and I believe that farmers are part of that.”

NFU senior officeholders, including Derbyshire NFU chair Jane Bassett, took Back British Farming Day to Westminster calling on government to recognise and reflect on the continued public support for the industry with policies that truly value domestic food production and farming’s environmental delivery.

Mrs Bassett, who farms near Buxton, congratulated Amy and said she was pleased her work had been further recognised in this way.

She said: “Well done to her as she is a passionate advocate for Derbyshire food and farming alongside protecting and enhancing our much-loved iconic landscape and wildlife.

“Here in Derbyshire more than 6,400 people work on farms across the county and these family businesses, not including allied trade and tourism, contribute more than £290 million to the economy.

“While British farming is also the bedrock of the country’s largest manufacturing sector – food and drink – worth over £150 billion to the economy and supporting more than four million jobs.

“We are proud of what we do to produce high quality food and our work for the countryside, for the economy and our communities and I would like to thank people for their continued support.

“I would urge them to buy British when they can and I would impress on our MPs from all parties on the need for progressive policies that allow family farms to have the confidence to invest and continue to drive economic growth and deliver for the country.”

The NFU’s latest Farmer Favourability Survey also demonstrates the public really value farmers and growers for producing high-quality food, caring for animals and protecting the countryside – often in the face of extreme weather and economic pressures.

Ranking farmers and growers second only to our fantastic nurses, the survey also found:

• 92% people feel it’s important Britain has a productive farming sector.

• 89% say British farms should grow as much food as possible to support national food security.

• More than three-quarters of respondents trust British food more than food from the rest of the world.