On a late, bright autumn afternoon Chris Allen takes a break from drilling next year's wheat to reflect on a major part of his working life spent in support of the science of the John Innes Centre.
"There have been very few days over the years when I've not been looking forward to coming in," he says, "It's a great place to work."
This will be one of the last tasks carried out by Chris at the Dorothea de Winton Field Experimental Station at Bawburgh on the edge of Norwich.
After 26 years Chris is retiring from the John Innes Centre to a life of DIY, gardening and sometimes doing the school-run for his two grandchildren.
"I'll miss the people here, I will miss doing all the different jobs and I will miss being here in Bawburgh because on a nice day like this it's a lovely place to be," he continues.
Farming is in Chris's blood; as a child he spent summers helping out on his grandparents' farm and his uncle was a pig farmer over the border in Suffolk at Mildenhall.
Chris joined in the family tradition, training at Easton College before spending the first part of his working life on the land at Great Melton.
So, joining the support staff of the John Innes Centre in 1998 offered continuity as well as a change of environment and most of all, variety.
"My work here has been much more varied than regular farming. I don't have a favourite job, there is nothing I don't like: drilling, weeding, spraying, bagging, threshing, harvesting, putting up the pea cages and fences around the peas. In winter we clean equipment. Whatever it is I have always felt lucky to be involved. Thankfully the researchers have always appreciated what we do for them. It makes you feel part of the science here at the John Innes Centre."
To begin with, Chris's work supporting experiments was distributed across a number of sites: the main John Innes Centre site at Colney Lane, the former Newfound Farm, Colney, and land and units at Bawburgh and Morely.
"When I arrived, there was a job in the greenhouses or a job outside, but I don't think I could have lasted inside. I have always worked outside – I don't mind the cold and often don't wear a coat unless it's raining," he says.
In the early days, a large part of his time was planting, hoeing, and harvesting a five-acre field of antirrhinum, an important model plant for the study of genetics, down at Newfound Farm, (now a modern housing development.)
A major change that stands out for Chris over the past quarter of a century is the opening of the field experimentation station at Bawburgh in 2019.
The facility opened in May that year and brought together labs and field experiments for the first time in a modern facility that also includes seed stores and meeting rooms.
"Even ten years ago I could never have foreseen a purpose-built building such as this," says Chris.
Situated on the edge of the village of Bawburgh, the land around the field experimental station has been managed so that this 'lab in a field' is also a pleasure to visit, – with permissive footpaths and rewilding projects encouraging visitors and wildlife.
"This building is the big difference that's happened in the time I've been here. It's a beautiful spot, sometimes bleak in winter – but overall, a beautiful place to work. I often talk to the residents who use the paths around the farm, and they are happy about what we do." "
As retirement approaches there must be at least one thing he won't miss?
"The machinery is getting more technical and we have new tractors which are all buttons and no leavers. I'd be happy to learn over time but generally I'm not a computer sort of person," he adds.
"Apart from that I can't think of anything that I won't miss. I've been very lucky."
