Peter Harper

Farmer and Grower Board Member

Peter was born and brought up on his family’s farm on the edge of Dartmoor and is now the sixth generation in 150 years of farming there.

After 8 years in the military as a helicopter pilot, Peter returned to the farm and set up a digital special effects company. Since selling the company in 2012 he has worked full time on the farm.

The farm is a mixed beef and sheep farm selling high-quality organic stores to the finishing market. Other enterprises consist of wild venison, butchery, and selling air-dried sawn timber to joinery businesses with the wood waste supplying a biomass boiler.

Peter has always had a deep empathy for the environment and has served 12 years as a Secretary of State member on the Dartmoor National Park Authority. He is part of the Hill Farm Project Steering group, and the ELM’s test and trial board. 

One of his key priorities is to get DEFRA to understand the high environmental and welfare standards that are required for organic growers and producers in developing new agri environmental schemes, especially ELMS.