Chinese delegates receive agri training

Posted 21 November 2008

Members of the academic team had an opportunity to influence Chinese government policy when delegates from the country’s Ministry of Agriculture received training at the Shropshire campus from November 17 to 20.

Professor Brian Revell, Dean of External Liasion at Harper Adams, said: “The Chinese government is focussing on significant policy reform for rural areas and 13 senior members of Township Enterprise Bureaux in the Xinjiang and Guizhou Provinces are attending a course on developing agri-food exports, agricultural marketing and stimulating rural entrepreneurship.

"One particular area of interest is the Harper Adams-pioneered Women in Rural Enterprise network.”

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences hosted the first half of the programme in the spring.

This is the first of an anticipated five-year annual series of programmes agreed between the Chinese MoA and Harper Adams, and the first such training programme in the UK.

 It will provide a springboard for Harper Adams to develop joint research and rural development projects with the Ministry and universities in China.