Ifan Huws wins Harper Cymry Award for 2019

Posted 29 July 2019

The winner of this year’s Harper Cymry/Royal Welsh Agricultural Society Student Award is Ifan Huws from Welshpool. Ifan received the award at the 100^th annual Royal Welsh Show (RWS) and has close family ties with the show.

Ifan, who is set to graduate this summer after studying BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Farm Business Management, said: “My great-uncle was the Chairman of the Royal Welsh Show for some time, so we have always been involved with the show and attend every year. My family are very proud of my achievement.”

Having been active with the Harper Cymru Student Club, from socials and the winter fair to industry leading conferences, Ifan was selected to win the award. Alongside this, he is also part of the Harper Adams football team.

On receiving the award, Ifan said: “It’s a great honour and a fantastic achievement and an amazing way to end my time at Harper. My four years at the University have been very enjoyable and the Harper Cymru Society has been a big part of my life here.

“During my studies, I've gained invaluable experiences and gathered industry contacts that will be with me forever, which I would like to thank Harper for.”

He also spends his free time with the Watson-Jones family at Howle Manor Farm in Newport.

Ifan continued: “I've been assisting on the poultry unit growing 300,000 broilers to supply all major supermarkets. I've learnt so much here about farm management and business strategy; it has been very influential in my career choice.

“Due to my desire to explore new industries and also the realisation that the sheep and beef sectors are facing challenging times, I decided to complete my placement year with Moy Park, under a British Poultry Council scholarship.

“Experiencing how a global food company works has been a fantastic experience, being involved in the supply chain from farm to fork.”

Last year, Ifan was also awarded a Staffordshire and Birmingham Agricultural Society scholarship, due to his passion and commitment to rural life in Wales along with his family farm, having taken on full management in recent years due to his father’s ill health; who unfortunately passed away earlier this year.

The future is bright for Ifan, who has accepted a regional manager role for Noble Foods, covering Wales and South West England. He also plans to utilise his weekends and free time to continue managing and developing the family farm.

Ifan said: “My career ambition is to develop a sustainable business orientated around the current family business, making the most of the resources available as well as having a management career within the poultry industry.

“My main interest is technology within animal production and large-scale sustainable farming; which has been influenced by my grandfather and uncle who I’ve assisted from a young age on the family broiler farm.”

It was Ifan’s keen interest in sustainability and the poultry industry which inspired his dissertation project on the barriers and perception of the supply chain including, insect protein in broiler feed.

Ifan explained: “For my research I interviewed key stakeholders within the supply chain which was very interesting. I'm very excited to see what the future holds within this new industry.”