Down to Earth Agronomy: Chris Taylor – Agronomist of the Year, Nuffield Scholar, and the man putting soil first
If you’re after agronomy that actually walks the fields, digs holes, and delivers results without the sales pitch, Chris Taylor is your man. Independent agronomist, founder of Down to Earth Agronomy, and freshly crowned Agronomist of the Year at the National Arable and Grassland Awards.
He works with farms across Wales and the west of England, covering combinable crops, maize, fodder beet, cover crops, and grassland. No commissions, no fertiliser to shift, just straight-talking advice that puts soil health, margins, and resilience front and centre.
Qualifications & Approach
I hold a full suite of professional qualifications:
- BASIS in crop protection
- FACTS (nutrient management)
- BASIS Graduate Diploma in Agronomy with Environmental Science (including advanced modules in nutrient management, cereals and conservation)
- BASIS Environmental Advisor status
I’m a professional member of the British Society of Soil Science and the Institute of Agricultural Management, and I’m planning to start a master’s at Aberystwyth University to build on my Nuffield work.
What sets me apart is that I’m completely independent. I don’t sell fertiliser, chemicals or earn commission on inputs. That means my advice is based solely on what your farm actually needs – not what a supplier wants to shift. The question changes from “What should we put on next?” to “Do we actually need to put anything on?”
My Farming Philosophy
At the heart of everything I do is one idea: Soil is the strategy.
Good agronomy keeps that strategy honest.
I walk the fields, dig holes, look at roots, check compaction and challenge the usual ways of doing things. My goal is to deliver better margins, stronger crops and healthier soils that cope with whatever the weather throws at us.
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Nuffield Farming Scholarship
In 2022 I completed a Nuffield Scholarship investigating the question: “Do regenerative farming practices pave the way for UK agriculture to meet net zero?”
I travelled to Canada (Ontario and Alberta) and the USA (Iowa, Illinois, the Dakotas, plus areas around Philadelphia and Delaware). Seeing regenerative systems in both wetter and much drier climates gave me some real “penny drop” moments.
Key lessons I brought home:
- Well-managed no-till with plenty of surface residue protects soil, improves infiltration in wet conditions and conserves moisture in dry ones.
- Diverse cover crops and clever residue management can suppress weeds, cycle nutrients, reduce disease pressure and improve harvest efficiency.
- Farmers who have been doing this for 25–30 years are seeing clear benefits in soil health, lower input costs and greater resilience.
I’m now helping my clients trial and adapt these ideas – from reduced or no-till systems and grazable covers to cutting nitrogen use by up to 30% while holding or improving yields.
