A sheep expert brought up in Essex has scooped an award after his work on behalf of the sector.

Chris Lloyd of farm levy payers’ group AHDB Beef & Lamb was awarded the National Sheep Association’s (NSA) George Hedley Memorial Award in recognition of his work, particularly on a successful knowledge transfer initiative known as the Better Returns Programme.

Chris, whose father was rector of Danbury church, near Chelmsford, developed a passion for agriculture from a young age. He kept sheep on a glebe field next to the church, and worked at a beef and sheep farm at Rettendon, near Wickford. He studied agriculture at Writtle College, graduating in 1987, and took a job with the NSA where he spent 16 years working in Tring and then Malvern. He went on to work for the levy board, where he has been for the last 14 years and lives in Herefordshire on a small farm with his wife and young family.

NSA chairman Samuel Wharry said: “Thanks to Chris’ instrumental input, the industry now benefits from a world-leading knowledge exchange platform.”

Chris’ father has retired but still performs a clerical function for churches in and around West Mersea.