Shadow Minister for farming and food visits campus

Posted 2 March 2015

Huw Irranca-Davies, Shadow Minister for the Rural Economy, Food and Farming visited Harper Adams on Friday to meet staff and students and to see some of the University’s latest developments. 

In a discussion with student representatives, Mr Irranca-Davies, MP for Ogmore in South Wales, explored their reasons for choosing to study at Harper Adams, their interest in agri-food subjects and their future career plans. The students had the opportunity to discuss Labour Party policy-making in food and farming, the forthcoming General Election and even UK membership of the EU, as well as their more general experiences of university life.

Mr Irranca-Davies, accompanied by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr David Llewellyn, then toured the University to see new facilities supporting teaching and research in entomology, veterinary science and veterinary physiotherapy, as well as Dairy Crest Innovation Centre which is currently under construction on the south side of the campus.

A visit to the Dairy Unit and the Pig Unit provided an opportunity for Mr Irranca-Davies to see some of the farming facilities on the Harper Adams site that are used to support the University’s academic activities and to hear about some of the University’s current research projects.

The visit concluded with a tour of the Agricultural Engineering Innovation Centre where a number of cutting-edge engineering and precision farming projects were explained, particularly with regard to their potential for impacting positively on the environment as well as on farm productivity and profitability.

Commenting on the visit, the Vice-Chancellor said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the Shadow Minister on his first visit to Harper Adams and to have the chance to discuss the Labour Party’s thinking on agri-food policies.  I was particularly pleased that Mr Irranca-Davies had the chance to meet some of our students to hear their views about the future of the rural economy, and for us to be able to show how our applied research informs our teaching and supports the agri-food and rural sectors.”