BOTH Adam Henson and the Duke of Buccleuch are to receive honorary degrees from Harper Adams University.

The degrees will be presented to the farmer/TV presenter and the UK’s largest private landowner at the university's 2017 graduation day on September 22.

The Duke will accept his award in recognition of services to the promotion of graduate employment opportunities in rural land management, and while Mr Henson will receive his award for services to the public understanding of agriculture.

Adam will also be the guest speaker at the afternoon graduation ceremony – where his audience will comprise graduates from agriculture, business, agri-food and land management undergraduate degree programmes, as well as a range of Masters and PhD graduates.

"It is such a privilege to have been offered and to be able to accept this honour from Harper Adams University," said Mr Henson. "I am excited to meet the graduating students and to congratulate them personally at the ceremony.

“I’ve said before that I am a massive fan of Harper Adams University. When people tell me they want to work in the food chain, I recommend they attend Harper Adams, one of the top agricultural educational facilities in the country. Every time I visit they have made greater advances and more investment in educating the people who are the future of our food supply chain. It’s a great university and a great route to a career in our tremendously exciting industry.

The Duke of Buccleuch has been an industry supporter of the rural enterprise and land management course at Harper Adams since its early days more than 20 years ago. An Honorary Member of the Royal Institution of Charters Surveyors, he said: “I am humbled to receive this honour from a University which I greatly admire and whose skilled and imaginative graduates will have a pivotal part in reshaping our rural businesses and communities in these challenging and uncertain times.”