On the 6 of November I will be departing for the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia to take on an incredible endurance challenge, in aid of Farm Africa.

The challenge we are undertaking - to trek 117km at altitude over just six days, summiting four peaks each over 4,000m - has, to our knowledge, never been undertaken. The route we are following is so remote that it has no access to vehicles. We will pass through the richly diverse, but threatened, Bale Mountains region where Farm Africa is running projects which will reduce deforestation, improving and sustaining the livelihoods of up to 878,000 local inhabitants and benefitting a further 12 million people living on arid land further downstream.

As Chairman of Farm Africa  I have the enormous privilege of visiting our work on the ground and seeing the dramatic lasting improvements we make to farming and to the lives of whole communities. I contrast that to my own life and realise we just cannot do enough for others also in the food and farming “business” but in hugely different and poorer circumstances.

So, my request to sponsor me and the team is not for us, but rather for the families and communities in Africa who Farm Africa works for, and who aspire to have a small part of what we have.

Thank you for supporting me.