Welsh Government delegates visit Harper Adams University

Posted 8 March 2013

Four Welsh Government civil servants have visited Harper Adams University to meet students from Wales.

Ryan Davies, Nia Griffiths, Helen Williams and David Morris all work within the Government’s Countryside Policy Division.

Based in various locations around Wales, including Newtown, Carmarthen, Llandrindod Wells, the delegates deal with a variety of issues affecting the agricultural sector including the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), shaping the next Rural Development Plan, engaging with the industry and reducing farming red tape.

During today’s visit they were shown around the campus by the university’s Vice-Chancellor Dr David Llewellyn and were later introduced to a group of students from Wales.

Nia Griffiths, Head of Rural Development Plan Reform at the Welsh Government, said: “David Llewellyn met with our head of division, Terri Thomas, and invited a delegation here today. She was very keen for us to be here to take the knowledge we have gained back.

“For us it has been really great to see all the teaching facilities and to see which European schemes Harper Adams is involved in here.

“We are also very interested in how Welsh farmers could link into techniques being looked into at Harper Adams.

“People can think the Welsh Government is just about Cardiff but we all understand the rural hinterland. It would be great to see students from here come and work in the Welsh Government.”

Kenna Murdoch, from Glamorgan, who is studying BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Marketing, was one of the students selected to meet the visitors.

The 20-year-old said: “It is always a great honour to be asked to come and speak to these kinds of people who are at the forefront of it all.

“We are the next generation going into agriculture and we need to have a clear understanding of what is going on and how it is being implemented.”

William Probert, 20, from Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, who is studying BSc (Hons) Rural Enterprise and Land Management, said: “It was quite an honour to meet the guests from the Welsh Government here at Harper Adams and put our opinions across about what the future is for farming.

“I think it is very important they have come here as we will be going out into industry in the next few years.

“I think as we are all students from Wales they need to look at us as we are the future, see what we think of the changes being made and ensure we can work alongside each other to ensure a prosperous industry in Wales.”

Rhydian Bevan, 22, from Pembrokeshire, who is studying BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Mechanisation, said: “It was a great honour to be asked to come and speak to the visitors and also give them the chance to listen to new people coming into agriculture.

“We have been discussing what the future plans are for CAP, what is going to change, what we will be looking at in the next 10 to 15 years, and what they are doing for Welsh farmers.”