John Martin is the Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year 2015 winner, with the judges praising his approach in a high-risk river catchment.

He carries out all the spraying on the 320ha family-owned farm in Dorset, covering the farm’s cereal, oilseed and pulse crops. He uses a Fendt 930 with a trailed 36m triple fold Chafer Sentry 4000.

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Speaking to Farmers Weekly, one of the judges, independent spraying consult Tom Robinson, said: “The big standout feature of John’s spray operation is what he’s doing environmentally.

“He has accepted that he’s in a high-risk catchment and done all he can to minimise pollution risk – it is as comprehensive a waste management system as I have seen.”

Mr Martin has invested heavily in a state-of-the-art sprayer fill-up area capable of dealing with large amounts of contaminated waste water or accidental spillages.

He beat seven other finalists which included Andrew Woolley (Wiltshire), Martin Daw (Berkshire), Robert Holmes (Derbyshire), Andrew Chapman (North Yorkshire), Barry Garner (Norfolk), Nick Light (Suffolk) and Anthony Bell (Northern Ireland).

See also: More news, photos, video and information on the Cereals event