2022 Farmers Guardian Farming Hero and 2016 Digital Innovator of the Year

Birks Farm,
Lancashire

Young farmer Tom Pemberton has been named this year’s recipient of the Farming Hero: Flying the Flag for British Agriculture.

The 30-year-old has captured the hearts and attention of the general public as he shares his farming life through the power of digital and social media.

Having secured a loyal audience of just under 500,000 subscribers on YouTube, he has also amassed huge followings across social media, especially through Instagram and TikTok.

After returning home from the Royal Agricultural University, Tom worked his way up to become the fifth generation of his family to run Birks Farm in Lancashire.

In 2016 he was inspired to create a video about the farm’s newly installed milk vending machine, which at the time generated just 12 views.

But, thanks to a combination of his infectious enthusiasm and irrepressible passion for farming, his twice-weekly updates have now amassed millions of views across the world.

He is usually found marching around a mud-ridden landscape with a GoPro, telling viewers about the stories happening on the farm, along with much-loved banter with his dad, who is affectionately known as the Ginger Warrior.

Profile

His growing presence and big personality has proved to be a runaway success and is engaging with large swathes of the non-farming public in a humorous, but also enlightening way.

Winning many admirers within the farming community, as well as becoming part of a new wave of stereotype-smashing young farmers, Tom has gone on to front BBC3’s new tractor-racing series, The Fast and the Farmer-ish after his YouTube channel was scouted by producers.

Continuing to raise the profile of British agriculture he put pen to paper to write his first book, Make Hay While The Sun Shines.

Through his open transparency he has helped catapult the role of British farmers and the agricultural world to an audience who normally would never give it a thought in any one time of a day.