Melplash Agricultural Society bursary awarded to Izzy Minshall

First year student Izzy Minshall has been awarded the Melplash Agricultural Society bursary award.

The bursary fund was established in 2005 and annually awards students who are planning to pursue further education connected to agriculture.

Izzy was one of 20 students selected, following her decision to study BSc (Hons) Agriculture at Harper Adams. She said: “I chose Harper and, more specifically, this course because it covers a great variety of subjects that combine to build a versatile knowledge and understanding of the industry.

“In particular, the clear structure of the course really appealed as well as the outstanding facilities on offer.

“I was keen to pursue further study following a year of work in the industry and finding I wanted to learn more about subjects such as arable which I had limited access to previously.”

Izzy has always had strong connections to the Melplash Agricultural Society so her award has particular significance to her. She commented: “The Melplash Agricultural Show is an event I have attended every year of my life; whether it be showing livestock, entering our agricultural produce, or socialising and promoting our young farmers club. They also hold a ploughing match as well as hedge laying and stock judging - both of which I have taken part in throughout the years.

“The society has already given me great opportunities to learn and compete which I am very grateful for.

“Some friends had received the bursary in previous years and recommended that it would be well suited to me. I have spent the initial sum on a new laptop which has been the single most important piece of equipment for my course.

“I'm really fortunate to have been given the opportunity of the bursary from a society I'm so thankful to be involved with.”

Having now completed the first few weeks of term, Izzy is thoroughly enjoying her time at university so far. She said: “My first few weeks at Harper, even under the current circumstances, have been brilliant fun.

“The Agriculture course is a well structured compilation of subjects that combine to establish a detailed knowledge of the industry as a whole. Now our coursework is starting to step up and I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into all of the subjects.”

Although these are early days for Izzy, she is still thinking about the wider world her degree will give her access to. She shared: “My future ambitions are firstly to complete my course! But following this, I have interests across the industry that I'd love to work within.

“My original passion has always been the dairy industry as so many elements integrate to run a successful dairy system. I have also become much more interested in the arable sector and would seriously consider taking a route based on this to potentially work in agronomy in the future.”

To find out about scholarship options provided through Harper Adams, please click here.