He also served as a senior civil servant and agricultural expert.
Barber was educated at the Royal Agricultural College and served in the Second World War.
He worked as a farmer in Gloucestershire before serving in various posts at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1946–72.
Since then he took various advisory roles on countryside and agricultural matters, including to the government and BBC.
He was a crossbench member of the House of Lords until his retirement on 25 March 2016.