SSFF finalists have battled it out for £50k prize fund

The competition is supported by Harper Adams University, Bradford Estates, McDonalds UK and Ireland, Morrisons, the NFU, Trinity AgTech and Trinity Global Farm Pioneers, and representatives met with its eight finalists at the Agri-EPI Midlands Innovation Hub on the Harper Adams campus in Shropshire.

@HarperAdamsUni is ready for the big day!! #JourneytoNetZeroCompetition #SSFF

Thank you to our sponsors. @McDonalds @Morrisons @NFUtweets @TrinityAgTech @bradfordestates pic.twitter.com/koStLd7eER

Farmers Guardian (@FarmersGuardian) December 2, 2022

As part of its commitment to Net Zero, the School of Sustainable Food and Farming is working to create opportunities for farmers and producers to change the way they work sustainably and share their findings with others.

Prize fund

With a total prize fund of 50,000, awards of between 5,000 and 20,000 will be made to the winning entrants of the competition the school will work with the winners to show their progress throughout 2023.

Farmers Guardian, who are media partners of the inaugural competition, will work with the winners to document their subsequent journey and help share the lessons other farmers and food producers can learn.

Dragons are all set Up to 50K up for grabs!! Which contestants will impress and take away the prize??? #SSFF # JourneytoNetZeroCompetition #SSFF pic.twitter.com/gU5N328hEj

Farmers Guardian (@FarmersGuardian) December 2, 2022

Each finalist presented their plans to the panel in a full day of judging, with the final results set to be announced early in the New Year at a special event at the Oxford Farming Conference on Friday, January 6.

The winning entrants will be those who judges agreed had the best plan for implementing a commercially viable, scalable and sustainable farming system or process which will have a positive and measurable impact on how they farm.

Professor Michael Lee, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Harper Adams University, was among the days judges.

He said: Tackling the challenges of Net Zero requires fresh ideas and new approaches that is both the driving force behind both the School of Sustainable Food and Farming and this competition.

We knew we wanted to see ideas and innovation which could be implemented in the real world, so watching our winners get to work on real farms and share the knowledge they create over the coming year will be fantastic.

Id like to thank all our partners for their deliberations on the day and I look forward to our winners being announced in the New Year.