Farming recognised in 2025 New Year Honours list
Duncan Farrington © MAG/Emma Gillbard A pioneering regenerative farmer has been awarded an MBE for his services to agriculture and the food industry in the 2025 New Year Honours List.
Duncan Farrington produces Farrington’s Mellow Yellow rapeseed oil – the world’s first carbon- and plastic-neutral food product on his Northamptonshire farm.
See more: Video: Harvest on carbon-neutral oilseed rape grower’s farm
The cold-pressed oil achieved carbon-neutral status in 2020, making Farrington Oils the first food company in the world to be certified by the United Nations.
Carbon-neutral status was achieved by planting trees and installing solar panels, with renewable energy generating more than half the farm’s total requirements.
For every 1kg of plastic in its packaging, Farrington’s funds the removal and recycling of 1kg of plastic from the environment that would otherwise go to landfill or into the sea.
Based in the village of Hargrave, Bottom Farm is a Leaf demonstration farm – showcasing sustainable and environmentally responsible agriculture.
Congratulations have also been paid to former NFU dairy chairman Michael Oakes, who was awarded an MBE for services to dairy farming.
NFU dairy board chair Paul Tompkins said: “I can’t think of anyone more worthy within the dairy industry to be honoured with an MBE than Michael.”
Mr Oakes was a driving force to get legislation laid in parliament to ensure fair and transparent contracts for all UK dairy farmers, said Mr Tompkins.
He had always gone above and beyond to help the sector and had been instrumental in raising awareness of mental health throughout the farming industry.
Other notable farming and rural-related New Year Honours include:
Dames Commander of the Order of the Bath (DCB)
- Defra permanent secretary Tamara Finkelstein, for public service
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
- Professor Emerita Linda Field, insect molecular biologist and former head of biointeractions and crop protection at Rothamsted Research, for services to protecting crops and the environment
Officers of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
- Rosemary Collier, professor of life sciences at the University of Warwick, for services to horticultural science and pest control
- David Gott, Food Standards Agency principal toxicologist, for services to food safety
- Richard Quallington, former executive director of Action with Communities in Rural England, for services to rural communities
- Professor Gerard Saddler, head of science and advice for Scottish Agriculture and chief plant health officer for Scotland, for services to Scottish plant health and to biosecurity
- Steven Wearne, Food Standards Agency global affairs director and Codex chairman, for services to public health protection and international food safety
Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
- Amanda Carson, former leader of the small ruminant expert group at the Animal and Plant Health Agency, for services to farming and to the protection of rare breeds
- Kate Clifford, director of the Rural Community Network, for services to rural communities and to peace building in Northern Ireland
- Gillian Hodgson, Yorkshire farmer and founder of the not-for-profit growers’ association Flowers from the Farm, for services to floristry
- Jonathan McDowell, founder of Indie Fude, for services to the food and drink industry in Northern Ireland
- Julian Sayers, Adkin rural chartered surveyor, Farmers Club vice-president and chair of the Worshipful Company of Farmers trustee company, for services to agriculture
- Keely Siddiqui-Charlick, chief executive of Sunnyside Rural Trust, for services to adult social care
- Alex and Dom Warren, co-founders of Dom’s Food Mission, for services to the eradication of food waste and poverty
- Bee Wilson, food writer and journalist, for services to food writing and food education
British Empire Medal (BEM)
- Ann Osborn, chief executive of the Rural Coffee Caravan, for services to older people and combating loneliness in Suffolk and Norfolk