Jamie Stokes
As a third generation arable farmer, ending up running the family farm was pretty much written in the stars from day one. After studying Agriculture at Reading University, I joined the Royal Agricultural Society of England as an Arable Specialist. This role developed into me becoming their Soil Specialist, leading me around the country working for companies such as the National Trust and the Crown Estates. Since returning to the farm full-time, I have driven it forward to a position of high profitability whilst continuing to fight the formidable foe that is blackgrass. I am a strong advocate for open and honest discussion about mental health. Having had the opportunity to talk to so many people, I want everyone to know that there is always someone you can talk to, even if it is just a stranger on the internet. I look forward to discovering more about myself and the world of agriculture during the next couple of years, with grateful support from the Worshipful Company of Farmers and Savills.
Doing more with less - Learning from the small to teach the big
Worshipful Company of Farmers
Study Overview
Having spent my farming career in a sector that obsesses over scale and efficiency, I thought that was the only way to grow a successful arable business. However, there are many successful farms working in areas that I, and my contemporaries, would say are too small and too complicated for food production. My project will look into urban farming and analyse the dichotomy of the technology driven vertical farming and the traditional style producers to see what mentality and techniques could be useful to field scale producers. The places I plan to visit include Tokyo, Japan where enough food for 70,000 people is produced within the city limits every day, and Singapore where they are looking to dramatically increase national food production from within the confines of a city state