Some students come to Harper to study agriculture to develop the knowledge they have gained from the family farm, aiming to bring back new business models and provide innovative market ideas as the next generation of farmers. Emily Mosley, a second year BSc Agriculture with Farm Business Management student is doing just that, having come to Harper from her beef and dairy farm with a passion for livestock farming.
“I chose to come to Harper for two reasons,” Emily said. “Firstly, it had the working farm but the university would also give me a chance to gain a degree despite not being very successful in my A-Levels.
“Starting out on the extended degree pathway meant I had the chance to prove myself in the industry I love; I was given a great opportunity to learn so much more where typically my grades would have prevented that.”
Emily explained how the support she has received has helped her to achieve her goals, saying: “I receive additional support from learning support as I am dyslexic and it's excellent. With weekly sessions, the team is always there to help and they never let you down. My learning has progressed leaps and bounds with the help of the learning support team!
“Harper has the most approachable lecturers that are always there to help and point you in the right direction. The modules taught are very relevant to working in industry and use real life farms for the assignments. The lectures are taught from the perspective of working in industry and you can learn a great deal before putting it into practise yourself.”
Emily’s extended course meant she undertook a year of study and a 12 month placement before transferring to her new course. She commented: “I was an FdSc Agriculture student from 2017 to 2019. My placement was at Berryfields Farms Ltd in Northamptonshire as a farm administrator for the 3000 head beef unit and animal feed manufacturer. I absolutely loved the job; meeting new people every day, selling feed, organising cattle for the markets, working on excel and sage, leasing with the abattoir and banks, debt collecting, analysing data, being part of trials - it was fantastic. No two days were the same.”
The hard work Emily put into her first two years has paid off. She was joint runner up for the FdSc placement student of the year 2018-19 and is achieving marks in 70’s and 80’s. Her self belief and passion for her work is helping her to reach the goals she has set for herself - including her start up business project.
Emily shared: “Through the summer I will be carrying on building my shepherd’s hut which I started last summer after finishing placement. My aim is to have it finished for returning back to Harper in the autumn to start up my own little business. My future ambition is to build up my own business doing farm accounts as I loved being a farm administrator.”
You can follow Emily’s building project on Instagram at @trailer_renovation.
If you are interested in agriculture, you can see our course options here. To find out more about the Access to Harper scheme, click here.
Emily's completed hut project from the outside - there's still work to be done on the inside though!
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