Scholarship with placement year for pig passionate student

Posted 11 July 2017

Harper Adams University student Sammy Allen was brought up on farm that reared pigs, and has now received a scholarship providing her with the opportunity to see another part of the industry.

The BSc (Hons) Agriculture has recently been named as the new Dalehead Food scholar, which includes a scholarship with the company, where she’ll experience the post-rearing part of the industry which she passionately wants to see.

The 20 year-old from Newark, Nottinghamshire said: “There is more to agriculture than running a farm. The industry is at the forefront of new technology and new food production techniques, which are necessary to keep up with the demand of the growing population.

“How the sector is going to deal with this high demand drives me to learn more and get involved. I really enjoy learning more about agriculture and how we can take agriculture forwards.

“From a young age I’ve been interested in the pig industry and how it has moved forward to become so intense. The quality of rearing and production is vastly improving through improved genetics and feed inputs, yet market price for finished pork is volatile.

“I’m very interested in learning more about the industry, having grown up on a unique family farm, focusing on pig production. The farm is unique as it runs at around 80 per cent self-sufficiency.

“All the cereals grown on the farm are put through our own feedmill to produce high quality pig feed, home-grown straw used for bedding which is then put back on the land as farm yard manure.

“I’d like to learn more about what happens post-rearing in the supply chain, and what happens to the pig once it has been taken from slaughter to the final product.

“I’m keen to get involved with the work at Dalehead. I feel that helping to run trials and collect and collate data from farm and abattoir while there for my placement year will profoundly develop my knowledge.

“What interested me most about a career with Dalehead is the opportunity to be involved with the whole supply chain. Not only am I interested in the rearing of pigs, but also what happens at the abattoir and what procedures have to take place to produce a pork product suitable for the consumer.

“I’d like to thank my sponsor for this amazing opportunity to broaden my knowledge in my preferred area of agriculture, which will support my degree. I’m very grateful for this as it will benefit me greatly in the future.”