Richard Bows has worked for Ermine Farms in Lincolnshire for 23 years as Unit Manager with 750 sows, taking all progeny to bacon weight.

He is a trained first aider and has been a level three assessor for eight years. He also recently attained the PTLLS teaching qualification.

BPEX head of Knowledge Transfer Andrew Knowles said: “Richard has tremendous amount of practical knowledge gained over many years of pig-keeping. “He will be a real asset both to BPEX and pig producers throughout the East of England.“

Mr Bows said: “It is just fantastic to have the opportunity to join BPEX at this time in my career. I am really looking forward to the new challenges ahead and in particular working with the rest of the KT team.“ Richard is married one daughter who is at Salford University studying law.

BPEX is the organisation for pig levy payers in England and is a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).