 |  | Article by Michael Barker, agricultural consultant
The Rev Gordon Gatward, awarded the OBE in the 2003 New Year Honours List for services to the farming community, has played an pivotal role in assisting UK farmers through the current crisis in agriculture.
As director of the Arthur Rank Centre (ARC) at Stoneleigh Park (formerly the NAC), he embodies a lifetime of agricultural knowledge, experience and wisdom.
| Μύ |  | One of the cows on display at the Royal Show in Stoneleigh
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At first glance, Gordon doesn't strike you as a typical vicar.
He is often seen around the office clad in full motorcycle garb, ready to whisk his wife Janet off for weekend jaunts to the Scottish countryside that he loves.
Born in Hertfordshire to the son of an agricultural electrician and brought up on a council estate, he spent many a summer holiday milking cows by hand and hay making in the Western Highlands.
 With support from the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) and many benefactors from across the country, he [Gordon] took the helm of the ARC Addington Fund to deliver much needed aid.
 | Μύ | Michael Barker
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I have no doubt this is where he developed a strong interest in agriculture, especially dairy farming. More recently he has devoted himself, while serving as a rural chaplain, to gaining his PhD in livestock welfare and production.
Before arriving at his current post, he little knew that in early 2001 the ARC would become the nerve centre of an a operation to provide emergency assistance to farmers and their families in need of financial help to buy diesel, pay telephone bills or foodstuffs for livestock.
With support from the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) and many benefactors from across the country, he took the helm of the ARC Addington Fund to deliver much needed aid.
| Μύ |  | Sign at the Royal Show, demonstrating the strength of feeling by British producers
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Since the fund's inception, well over Β£10 million has been handed out to farmers facing financial ruin across the country.
To date the fund is still in operation although it has moved away from "firefighting" to addressing longer term issues facing farmers. Many tenanted farmers hit by the crisis are carrying heavy debt burdens which are totally unserviceable given the current economic downturn in the industry.
As a consequence, the fund now exists to give a dignified exit in the form of affordable local housing schemes.
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