Students receive scholarship to attend the Oxford Farming Conference

Two representatives of Harper Adams University were awarded a scholarship from the University Vice-Chancellor’s Office, to attend the Oxford Farming Conference this January.

Each year the Vice-Chancellor awards the scholarships, enabling the recipients to attend this leading agricultural conference and to share their views and ideas. This year the scholarships were awarded to Charlotte Garbutt and Sioned Davies.

Charlotte Garbutt, 22, details her experience at the conference: “I felt very privileged to be given the opportunity to go, as I’d never been before.

“Part of the experience was spent meeting with other young individuals from within the industry, as well as meeting leading figures from the sector.

“We attended some very interesting sessions on different areas of agriculture that were both informative and inspiring.

“The highlight for me was the opportunity to network, which helped me to expand my knowledge of the sector. It’s quite an exciting industry to be in right now and, despite, the negativity and uncertainty surrounding agriculture post-Brexit, the conference certainly highlighted the positivity of people within the industry.

“It’s amazing how much is going on within the sector and we really do need to shout about it as there are a lot of very inspirational and influential people shaping the future of farming.

“I’d certainly like to say a huge thank you to the University for allowing me to attend as it was a great experience.”

The Vice-Chancellor, Dr David Llewellyn added: “We are pleased to support the attendance of scholars at the Oxford Farming Conference which is such an important fixture in the agricultural calendar.

“Not only does it provide a chance for some of our students to meet colleagues from other universities, but it also enables the scholars to meet leading figures from agri-food organisations and businesses who are keen to support the next generation of those who could, in future, go on to leading roles in the industry.

“The Conference challenges us to think about the year ahead with a great programme of inspirational speakers, and we were delighted that, this year, they included Harper Adams Lecturer Kit Franklin, who spoke enthusiastically about our world-leading Hands Free Hectare project.

“I hope also that our scholars enjoyed hearing Harper Adams mentioned in glowing terms in the Secretary of State for the Environment’s major speech at the start of the conference proceedings!”