Graduation 2015 prize-giving: RASE Prize and Texel Sheep Society Award

Posted 1 October 2015

Joe Parry, 23, from Corwen, Denbighshire, received the Royal Agricultural Society of England prize when he graduated from Harper Adams University at the end of September.

Joe graduated with a first-class honours degree in agriculture and received the prize for being the best agricultural student both academically and practically. 

Agricultural Courses Manager Dr Russell Readman said: “Joe’s academic performance on the course has been excellent. He has a range of practical experience of UK farming, primarily on the livestock side gained from work on the home farm, an upland beef and sheep farm in North Wales, and his placement year with the well-known Wedderlie herd of Pedigree Aberdeen Angus in the Scottish Borders. Feedback from his employer was excellent. 

“Joe plans to return to the home farm to develop and expand the business, implementing theoretical and practical knowledge gained during his studies, to create an efficient and profitable upland farm. Overall Joe has demonstrated excellent academic and practical understanding of agriculture during his studies and is a well-deserving recipient of the Royal Agricultural Society of England Prize.”

Joe also won the Texel Sheep Society Educational Award, as the student who attained the highest mark on a sheep production related Honours Research Project. 

Lecturer Wyn Morgan said: “Joe investigated the factors influencing the role and significance of Welsh mountain sheep within the UK’s stratified industry, focusing on North Wales. Joe utilised several approaches during the study and came to the conclusion that there has been a structural change to stratification in the North Wales sheep industry that has resulted in a reduction in Welsh Mountain ewes, however the breed continues to play an influential role on individual farms.  

“It was an excellent piece of academic work.  Joe is a very worthy recipient of this award.”

Joe was later announced as the British Farming Awards Agricultural Student of the Year.  Full story harper.ac.uk/joepar