Russ Carrington Award for Best Newcomer

The Russ Carrington Award for Best Newcomer is a celebration of the entrants bringing innovation, new ideas and impact to pasture-based farming. We recognise that newcomers — from farmers to consultants to vets — face significant barriers including land, finance, and training. This award presents an opportunity for Pasture for Life to provide additional support to help newcomers overcome these challenges.

Meet our 2025-2026 winner: Claire Whittle

On the Monday before Groundswell, Claire Whittle had her last day at her conventional vet practice. Throughout her career as a vet, she has advocated for healthy livestock within healthy ecosystems. She made it the focus of her (incredibly entertaining) Nuffield Farming scholarship report; 'Can Regenerative Agriculture improve the health and welfare of livestock?' She's a dung beetle enthusiast — celebrating the vital role dung beetles can play in preventative care.

Now, she is The Regenerative Vet.

'The Regenerative Vet was built on a lightbulb moment sat with Maria @dodgson_wood in her kitchen in 2021. She said - imagine a regenerative vet practice? We talked about a model that doesn’t sell medicines but sells time, experience, knowledge. An understanding and empathy of the challenges that farmers face in an increasingly difficult financial and environmental climate. A vet practice whose sole aim is to become redundant based on the fact that healthy animals really shouldn’t need vets. That livestock should be part of a healthy ecosystem.'

Claire now also has a farm: Caedicws Farm in North Wales. A new entrant, she's taking us all along on the journey on Instagram. We highly recommend following @dr_dowhittle for entertaining, honest, raw and uplifting notes from the field. The week before Groundswell, the cows arrived.

One of Claire's nominators said:

'Claire has woken up the world to the power of dung beetles and the importance of pasture based farming for animal health.

But I am actually nominating Claire for being an incredible role model and advocate for new entrant and female farmers. It is very hard to raise your head above the parapet again and again, as Claire does, to speak up about the sexism, racism and exclusionary attitudes that exist in our sector. So many of us experience it, and to speak up only exposes you to it more. Surely one of the most important and radical ways that we can all transform farming is standing up to prejudice, and welcoming newcomers with open arms?

Claire also shows us all what is possible when you dream big and work very very hard. By talking about the incredible highs and the tough lows with honesty and humour Claire is having a huge impact on everyone who is following her story, in the sector and beyond. And transforming a farm for the benefit of nature and people while she's at it!'

The judging panel said:

'Claire is a real ambassador for challenging the status quo and following her dreams. She has taken a brave step to single-handedly start a new farming enterprise. But she was already having a significant impact as a regenerative vet and dung beetle specialist. Now, her farming endeavours are taking her influence to another level.

Claire won the award because of all that she is, not for any one individual act or thing she has done. It is her approach and attitude — as much as anything else — that makes Claire Whittle 2025-26's Best Newcomer.'

With special mention to the following nominees:

How do we define a newcomer?

Someone who has held a senior decision-making role in the farming industry for less than five years. They might have just started their own farm or taken on a farming-related role for the first time, with no prior experience in agriculture. Or, they might have more experience with the industry but have only just taken on a leadership role in a farming business. They can be farmers, vets, consultants, or anyone working in the sector and across the supply chain.

Why best newcomer?

We know that newcomers to farming face significant barriers in setting up and scaling their businesses.

In the Landworkers' Alliance's New Entrants Survey (2020), the greatest barriers identified by respondents were access to land (61%), training (54%), and finance (46%). 70% of respondents to the NFYFC Route to Success Survey (2023) felt it would be difficult or impossible for new entrants to get into farming. They felt that the greatest tools to overcome these challenges would be grants (68%), encouragement of new entrants (56%), business support (55%), and training (54%). Soil health and business management, followed by financial management, were identified as the greatest knowledge gaps.

We know that similar challenges can be faced by all newcomers — whether new entrant farmers or people with roles elsewhere in the industry.

Newcomers are important.

As part of our mission to help all farmers move towards pasture-based farming — no matter what stage of their journey they are at — we know there is more we can do to support newcomers.

We know that the average age of farmers is rising, with 38% of principle farmers and holders aged 65 or older and just 15% under 45 years old (Government statistics, 2024). 16% are female. By comparison, the average age of a new entrant tends to be younger, with a broader demographic. The Landworkers' Alliance reported that the average age of respondents was 37, 54% were female, 17% non white British, and 9% identified as Black, Brown, or Indigenous People of colour (LA New Entrants Survey, 2020). 61% had no family connection to farming.

By supporting newcomers, we help raise up a new, diverse generation of innovative and driven individuals as well as the experienced farmers and industry experts who make up the majority of our membership.

What will they win?

1 year of Pasture for Life membership
Year-long feature across Pasture for Life's digital channels
Groundswell award ceremony
Dung beetle trophy - the dung beetle signifies change and dynamism and the things we really need in our farming sector.

From 2020-2024, the Russ Carrington Award was for members whose work was both innovative and benefitted Pasture for Life and the wider regenerative farming community.

Andy Rumming, Andy Rumming's Beef

Andy exemplifies PfL's 'gift economy', regularly sharing his knowledge with members online as well as locally in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire. He displayed energy and flexibility in rapidly developing an online farm shop to continue selling his beef once Covid-19 hit and relentlessly promotes PfL to farmers and consumers. Perhaps Andy's most telling impact, however, is in his innovative and entrepreneurial approach to processing and developing markets for the 5th quarter of his animals, from beef hearts on skewers, to fine leather goods with high environmental standards, and showing that premium can come from a nose-to-tail approach.

Clem Sandison

A member of the PfL team, Clem is a brilliant facilitator, bringing farmers and subject experts together to explore themes and practical ideas to help farmers assimilate a range of views and ideas and apply them to their own farm businesses. She has supported farmers to access training and support relating to Holistic Management, soil health assessments and infrastructure planning. She has put biodiversity monitoring into the hands of farmers, to test data collection methods and undertake monitoring to assess impact of adapted grazing management on farms.

Nick Green, Green Butcher

Nick studied at an agricultural college in the Cotswolds, travelled around meeting farmers, and got involved with PfL. The work being done by these farmers and the quality of the food they produce blew his mind. But it was largely going unrecognised and undervalued.

For Nick, the brief was clear; get out there, tell their story and let people eat the produce. He started by renting a van and selling into London restaurants. Then online. Now Green Butcher has its own butchery in Twickenham Green. But Nick's job remains the same… to champion the virtues of pasture based organic farming. To build relationships with the very best British farmers. To find people who, just like him, place an importance on the provenance, ethics, flavour and nutritional value of the food they feed themselves and their families.

Jonty Brunyee, Conygree Farm

Jonty’s regenerative farming efforts span his work with Pasture for Life, Royal Agricultural University, Farm-Ed, the local farmer cluster, and the incredible Emergent Generation youth network. His work at Conygree Farm and the Cotswold Market Garden shows how innovation and collaboration can change the food system.

This award celebrates Russ Carrington's significant ongoing contribution to pasture-based systems. Russ managed PfL through its early days, supporting farmers to adopt better grazing and livestock management through certifying and promoting 100% pasture-fed meat and dairy. The youngest of PfL's founding members, Russ has championed newcomers throughout his career, as Chairman of the National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC) AGRI Steering Group, and Chairman of Rural Youth Europe.

From PfL, he went on to establish a new regenerative farm on the Knepp Estate adjacent to its area of rewilding. Today, Russ is a coach, mentor and facilitator, working with farmers and their families, agricultural organisations and landscape scale initiatives to help them through periods of transition towards regenerative practices. He has worked with farmers and land managers across the UK, Ireland and parts of Europe.

No limit to number of nominee applications you submit. Nominees do not have to already be a Pasture for Life member.

NOMINATIONS CLOSED FOR 2025/2026

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