Meet the graduates: Richard Beattie

Richard Beattie, 23, from Ballymena, Northern Ireland, has been awarded the Alltech Award and the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF)/ Mole Valley Farmers Award when he graduated from Harper Adams University in late September.

The Alltech Award is presented to the student who attained the highest mark in the final year module: Sustainable Animal Production Systems.

The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers/ Mole Valley Award is a national competition awarded to the best dairy student. Each university has the opportunity to nominate three students and out of all the students selected, three were from Harper Adams University.

The 23-year-old in the final round of the competition, held at the Farmers Club in London, beat four others to be named Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers Student of the Year.
Mike King, RABDF chairman said: “The standard was extremely high but Richard showed the most promise on the day with innovative ideas and well-rounded arguments. His essay was very strong and it’s clear that he has considerable potential.’”

Richard is from a family dairy farm and undertook his placement year with Chestnut Animal Feeds, Northern Ireland, where he returns to take up a full time position.
Richard completed the BSc (Hons) Agriculture course and will be continuing to study at Harper Adams University in an MSc Ruminant Nutrition part-time.