Staffordshire & Birmingham Agricultural Society Scholarship: Ifan Huws

Ifan Huws, 22 from Welshpool, Llangadfan, Powys, is a BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Farm Business Management student and recipient of a Staffordshire & Birmingham Agricultural Society Scholarship.

“Being awarded the Staffordshire & Birmingham Agricultural Society Scholarship was a fantastic achievement and a great honour. The scholarship will allow me to concentrate on my final year and will go towards training that will help my career and the family farm. I'm very grateful to the society for awarding me with this scholarship.

Ifan grew up on an upland family farm; he said: “I have been heavily involved in the running of the farm due to my father’s illness. In recent years, I have taken full management of the farm, capitalising on grants to improve infrastructure around the farm and streamlining the farm reducing the labour requirement per week. I have also made the farm more environmentally orientated capitalising on EU funding.

"When I am at home I also help out on my uncle’s broiler farm, looking after 300,000 broilers supplying all major supermarkets - this has developed my interest in modern large scale sustainable farming.

“My goal after university is to develop the family business and have a management job within the agriculture supply chain. My interests are in modern farming techniques and producing food sustainably with an emphasis on looking after the environment.”

During Ifan’s free time, he helps out at Howle Manor farm in Newport with the Watson–Jones family. He assists on the award winning broiler unit placing 300,000 birds under contract for Moy Park to supply all major supermarkets.