Rob Cannell beat off some very strong competition to be crowned Syngenta Farm Sprayer Operator of the Year at Cereals 2010.

Spraying a massive 10,000ha a year for Dennington Hall Farms in Suffolk, Mr Cannell has been a sprayer operator for four years. He uses a 4000-litre Bateman RB35 sprayer fitted with 32m self-levelling booms and GPS to spray crops including wheat, oilseed rape, spring beans and sugar beet.

The judges were impressed with his expertise and professionalism highlighted by his ingenious solution on where to store his marker canes. He realised that he had an ideal tube for storing canes in the form of the door handle on his Bateman Sprayer, so he made a simple cap for the bottom of the door tube, and stores a couple in this tube.