 On 10 May 2007, he was presented with the Princess Royal Award for his significant contribution to the UK dairy industry by The Princess Royal at a private reception at Buckingham Palace.On 6 June 2012, Handley, who leads a group called Farmers for Action, was interviewed on the Today Programme about the price of milk.He said "we are looking at disruption of the milk supply, and that could come in many forms and this country is now running into something that is going to be very special to a lot of people, and that is the Olympic Games".