A Norfolk farmer, broadcaster and journalist has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award in recognition of his contributions to the agricultural industry.

David Richardson, of Whiterails Farm in Great Melton, west of Norwich, was given the accolade at the 2015 Farmers Weekly Awards ceremony in London.

He was hailed as 'one of the most recognisable figures in British farming', building a journalistic career as a columnist and broadcaster while managing a successful farming business, and representing the interests of his industry at a local and national level.

'I am absolutely thrilled to bits,' he said. 'I feel a bit of fraud, to be honest. I had no clue at all that it was going to happen. It was something of a shock when they started reading the citation, but you cannot be anything but thrilled that someone feels you would be worth something like this.'

Mr Richardson has written columns for Farmers Weekly magazine since the early 1990s, and has contributed to the Financial Times, Big Farm Weekly and Big Farm Management. He has also written columns for the EDP's sister publication, East Anglian Farming World.

As a broadcaster, he has appeared on TV programmes including Anglia's Country People and Farming Diary, as well as the BBC Sunday lunchtime TV show Farming.

As a pioneering arable farmer, he co-founded Linking Environment and Farming (Leaf) in 1991, an organisation which promotes sustainable agriculture. He chaired Leaf for 10 years, and his role in promoting a new approach to managing the land was recognised in 2000 when he was made an OBE for services to integrated farming.

Mr Richardson is a past president of the Royal Norfolk Show and a former chairman of the buying group Loddon Farmers, which went on to become part of Anglia Farmers. He is also a trustee of the Henry Plumb Foundation, which offers grants to young farmers.