AN innovative business leader says he is "delighted" to be awarded an honorary degree from Essex University.

As co-director of the world-famous Wilkin and Sons of Tiptree, one of Essex's most established food producers, Chris Newenham is dedicated to researching new ways to update the farming sector.

On receiving the honorary degree, Mr Newenham said: "I was simultaneously, stunned, delighted, humbled and hugely honoured to receive notice of my proposed award from the University of Essex.

"I have had a long association with the institution having been both undergraduate and postgraduate.

"More recently our paths have crossed again through ongoing work with multiple facets of the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering where we have been delighted to work with industry-leading academics who are working to help transform the future of our fruit production."

Originally from County Cork in Ireland, Mr Newenham moved to Essex to study a Higher National Diploma in commercial horticulture at Writtle College in the late 1980s.

He completed several Essex-accredited degrees, earning a BSc in agriculture in 1994 and an MBA in 2006.

Mr Newenham began his extensive career at Wilkin and Sons in 2001, initially as a farm manager.

In 2007, he was appointed farms director and later assumed the role of joint managing director in 2016.

During this period, Wilkin and Sons has earned a reputation for being pioneers in agricultural innovation.

The firm was the first in the country to use a micro-pulse-irrigation system and is now teaming up with academics from Essex to utilise cutting-edge robotics, artificial intelligence and data analytics in its operations.

Professor Tracy Lawson, of the university’s School of Life Sciences, said: "We feel extremely lucky at Essex to have nurtured such a fruitful partnership on our doorstep where Chris and his team at Wilkin have collaborated with our scientists to look at how robotics and AI can be applied to the challenges of automating the agricultural sector.

"Thank you, Chris, for your contribution to the wider farming sector and working in partnership with Essex to take on such significant challenges within the agricultural sector."