BGAJ awards celebrate the best of agricultural photography

Winners of the 2025 BGAJ Awards have been announced at the Guild’s annual Harvest lunch in London.

The entries were judged by Mark Spikings of Breeze and Freeze, and Caroline Stocks, BGAJ council member and managing partner of Consus Communications.

The three categories — arable, livestock and environment — drew an impressive range of entries, showcasing the very best of agricultural photography.

With diverse approaches ranching from dramatic aerial shots to livestock portraits, the judges said they were impressed by the thought behind all of the images, which highlighted the many aspects of farming.

Livestock photography award

John Eveson was given the top prize in the livestock category for his photograph of Market Drayton auction mart, which was published in Farmers Guardian’s Mart’s the Heart section.

Caroline said the image was her stand-out of the competition, telling the story of the auction mart from an unusual perspective, and handling contrasts in lighting.

“This image stuck in my head long after I first saw it, and every time I went back to it I kept noticing different elements. It’s a great shot.”

Runner-up in the category was Wayne Hutchinson for his image of a cow and calf suckling in a field of bluebells. Judges said the striking colours of the bluebells against the deep brown cows made it an eye-catching and emotive image.

Petra Jacob was also given an honourable mention for her image of wild sheep on the Faroe Islands. Mark said the image’s composition really captured the ruggedness of the dramatic landscape, showing the connection between the livestock and their environment.

Environmental photography award

Eilidh MacPherson was awarded first prize in the environment category for her image of Una Cameron’s sheep shearing World Record, which saw her shear 517 sheep in 9 hours.

The judges said her image, published in farmingscotland.com, put the viewer in the middle of the action. (View uncropped image here)

“This is one of my favourite shots of the whole competition,” Mark said. “You can almost feel the energy and movement of the shearing taking place — it’s a really well thought out shot.”

Second prize went to Wayne Hutchinson for his photo of wildflower seed harvesting, carried out to establish new wildflower meadows.

Taken as part of a photoshoot for The Farmer Network, the judges said the image captured the vibrancy of the landscape and the effort to restore biodiversity.

Arable photography award

Nigel Akehurst won the top prize in the arable category for his aerial image of a state-of-the-art glasshouse facility at Wicks Farm in West Sussex.

Published in South East Farmer, the judges commended Nigel’s use of lines to lead the eye through the striking image.

“It also showed contrast between the industrial scale agriculture and the more traditional methods in the background,” Mark added. “It’s nice to see a drone shot with such thought behind it.”

Farmers Guardian machinery editor Toby Whatley was awarded second prize in the arable category for his image of a sugar beet harvester in Norfolk.

The judges commended him for his dynamic shot that tells a clear story. “You can see the technology at work but also the people behind the wheel, which makes it more engaging,” they added.