Scholarship takes student to Agritechnica

Posted 13 December 2017

Harper Adams University BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Crop Management student Alice Clews attended the Agritechnica conference in Germany.

The international exhibition runs in Hanover, Germany from November 10 to 16, and featured more than 2,800 exhibitors and 450,000 visitors, including more than 100,000 from other countries. Agritechnica is a leading role within its industry for agriculture and agricultural machinery.

Alice, from Wetherby, West Yorkshire said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to not only look around the show, but also to be hosted by the Oxford Farming Conference and DLG (German Agricultural Society) and to get a feel for farming and innovation in another country.

“I was one of three successful applicants who travelled to Agritechnica along with Matthew Naylor, OFC Director and Robert Yardley, Travel Scholar Coordinator.

“We had the opportunity to meet several CEOs and other influential people in the industry, which provided us all with contacts but also allowed us to see how some of the largest companies engineering agricultural machinery and technologies have become so successful while still family owned.

“I felt very inspired by several of the people/companies that we had meetings with.”

The 22 year-old added: “On the first night we attended the Max Eyth event, where they present the silver and gold innovation awards for agricultural technologies. It was an honour to be invited to this invitation-only event as Max Eyth was a German engineer who founded Agritechnica and this was the official opening of the show.

“At Agritechnica, we had meetings with several exhibitors including: Pottinger, Lemken, Vaderdstad, JCB, John Deere and Fendt to look around their stands and speak to their CEO’s of senior marketing specialists.

“As Massey Ferguson were our main sponsors, we had a tour around their stand and also did a photoshoot and promotional video with them to promote the scholarship.

“This was a fantastic opportunity to have a go at an interview in front of TV cameras as well as Campbell Scott, Massey Ferguson Director Marketing Services and PR.

“As I have a particular interest in crop protection technologies, I have the opportunity to spend the final day looking around the show and talking to companies specifically involved in crop protection.

“It is really interesting to see how similar concepts, to those I’ve seen in the UK, are being developed in Germany and what agricultural manufacturers and engineers are working towards to create a more sustainable future for agriculture.

“As well as attending the Agritechnica show, we also visited FrischgeflÜgel (a chicken slaughterhouse and processing factory) where they process 340,000 tonnes (carcass weight) per year and have 35.5% of chicken meat market share in Germany.

“We also visited Hemme milk, a 420 head dairy herd outside of Hannover that was established in 1589. They produce between 10-12,000L of milk per day and also buy the same amount again from two neighbouring farms for their processing unit.

“They process all their milk on site into yoghurts, flavoured milks, custards and iced coffees.”