A COLLEGE in York is uniting the management of its four farms by creating a new role, which it says will increase the student learning opportunities across virtually every type of UK agriculture.

Matt Bagley has been appointed to the new position of Head of Farms at Askham Bryan College and will spearhead the initiative, giving students more valuable hands-on experience of commercial farming, the college said. He will manage a total of 880 hectares, which includes the new Sheep Husbandry Training Centre and state of the art dairy unit in Cumbria and the Agri Tech centre at York. Matt is the former head of agriculture at the college’s Penrith campus.