THEY'LL be ploughing the fields and scattering without the help of John Willis from now on.

Because Worcestershire's chaplain for agriculture and rural life has retired. He's parked his theological tractor, unhitched his prebendary plough and put himself out to graze.

The Reverend Canon, who was awarded an MBE three years ago for his services to the agricultural community, will no longer be seen around Worcester livestock market, bending an intent ear to personal problems at the Three Counties Show, or enjoying a laugh with the Young Farmers.

And John Willis does enjoy a laugh.

He's one of the few clergymen I've met who can say "Oh, bloody hell" - which he did when I told him the sort of article I was going to write - without immediately being consumed by guilt and expecting the clouds to part and a bolt from on high to strike him dead.

John has the touch of the common man all right, a quality much needed by an agricultural chaplain, because it's difficult to be sanctimonious when you're up to your knees in cow dung.

Wellies are as essential as a dog collar and it's no use quoting the Bible to someone trying to manhandle a muddy pig.

Mind you, it didn't start out that way. During his schooldays at King's, Worcester, he fancied being a teacher.

"But I think National Service changed all that."

He served in Cyprus at the height of the troubles and found he was the sort of person others brought their troubles to.

"They used to come to me if they wanted to chat about things. I suppose I discovered I was a good listener."

Deciding on a career in the church, he trained at Queen's College, Birmingham, before being ordained in 1964.

Service in parishes in Kidderminster, Dunstable and Rubery followed before John Willis was appointed rector of Salwarp and Hindlip with Martin Hussingtree, in 1980. These were three rural parishes and included the agricultural college at Hindlip, which was the headquarters of Worcestershire Young Farmers.

"At that time I didn't know much about rural issues," he explained, "so I went on a rural ministries course at Stoneleigh to become better acquainted."

The collar fitted and in 1985 he was appointed assistant Agricultural Chaplain and then took on the post full-time in 1992.

"I hadn't really intended to, but after organising the Harvest Festival service in Worcester Cathedral in 1991, I rather got the feel for the job."

Six months later he was the Agricultural Chaplain for Worcester Diocese and the problems of rural life began to hit home.

"People often see the life of farmers as some sort of rural idyll," said John, "but it can be a very solitary existence with few people to share your thoughts and troubles with.

"Hours and hours spent at the wheel of a tractor ploughing fields give you plenty of time to think about your problems.

"I remember not long after I had taken on the job I was approached by a leading member of the agricultural community at the Three Counties Show who told me there was an awful lot of stress among farmers.

" 'We need to do something and you need to do something', he said. I was under no illusion what was expected."

Of course, farmers by nature are not necessarily the most communicative group and the agricultural chaplain was well aware of the sideways looks he got in the local markets.

"They wouldn't come up to me there. After all, it wouldn't be done to be seen talking to the parson in public. But a bit later, maybe, I'd get a phone call at home and all the troubles would come flooding out.

"Part of the problem is that the farming community has not had a very good Press. A lot of people have under-estimated the financial pressures they have been under and this can be very stressful when you spend hours working on your own.

"I believe farmers have the second highest suicide rate behind vets."

As part of his work to counter this, John founded Worcestershire Rural Stress Support Network to offer support in the community and he is on the national executive of the Rural Stress Information Network to keep abreast of all the latest information.

He has been involved in a whole raft of rural initiatives, from tourism to offering pastoral care to the stallholders at the Three Counties Show.

"The stallholders might not seem an obvious case," he said, "but many of them lead a very disrupted life, travelling around from show to show for months on end and not going home.

"Walking around the showground in the evening after the crowds have gone all they want you to do is stop and have a chat. They've probably been talking to people all day, but they can still be very lonely."

John has done a lot of work with the Three Counties Agricultural Society over the years, including organising the major service for the bicentenary of the Society in 1997.

"Part of the problems in the countryside arise from the fact that it has changed so much in the last 30 years," he added. "At one time if you lived in the countryside, you worked there. But now farms have been split up, farm cottages sold off and barns converted and you have urban people buying into what they see as a picture postcard way of country life.

"But then they discover they don't like the smells, they don't like getting their cars dirty on the lanes and they don't like the noise when the cows are milked early in the morning.

"All this sort of thing brings conflict and in some respects, with smaller workforces, farmers have lost some of the social position they once had. They are not in charge of large numbers of people any more.

"They have had to re-organise and adapt and it has not been easy, although I feel the situation is settling down as everyone gets used to it."

John Willis is, himself, "settling down" now, because, with wife Jose and black Labrador Tess, he is leaving his church cottage at Grafton Flyford for a new home on the edge of Worcester.

"But we look out over trees and green fields," he said. "We are virtually in the countryside."

A Worcestershire countryside that will miss him.