Harper Adams student beats off stiff rivalry for third year to win national dairy award

Agriculture with Farm Business Management student, Rebecca Smith, won the award after a rigorous application process. This included writing a 1,500-word essay on a case study prepared by Kite Consulting and delivering a presentation to a panel of judges at the Farmers' Club in London.

This is the third year in a row a student from Harper Adams University has won the award, with last year's student being Max Mitchell from Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

The winner was announced at Dairy-Tech 2023 today (1 February), where Rebecca was presented with a cheque for £750 and a trophy. She also had the exclusive opportunity to quiz panellists involved in the State of the Dairying Nation debate, including Farming Minister Mark Spencer.

As part of the competition, Rebecca also won a six-month paid placement with the award sponsor Mole Valley Farmers.

Runner-up was Rural Enterprise and Land Management student Jack Howard, also from Harper Adams University.

The competition, run by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF), is designed to reflect real-life challenges seen on dairy farms and broader policy issues and identify some of the sector's rising stars and new entrants.

This year's judging panel consisted of RABDF chairman Di Wastenage, vice-chair Robert Craig, Mole Valley Farmers’ James Hague, and Chloe Cross from Kite Consulting.

Commenting on the winner, Mrs Wastenage said: “The standard of this year’s students was incredibly high, making the final decision almost impossible.

“Rebecca gave an excellent presentation showing her deep practical and technical knowledge of dairy farming while also explaining in great detail how the wider industry needs to improve its communication with consumers.

“Figuring strongly in Rebecca’s presentation was more innovative product development to capture the valuable convenience food-on-the-go consumer. She also emphasised the importance of promoting the soil-health benefits of pasture-based dairy farming as a solution to the wider problem of greenhouse gas emissions.

“Rebecca also had very clear ideas around what we can learn from the promotion of plant-based alternatives, using social media and influencers to engage with Gen Z,” she said.

Mr Hague, head of agriculture at Mole Valley Farmers, added: “Mole Valley Farmers is delighted to sponsor the Dairy Student of the Year award and our congratulations go to Rebecca and Jack. They delivered excellent presentations with a clear understanding of the challenges and complexities facing the industry and, importantly, the many opportunities that also present themselves.

“Judging this year's competition was difficult due to the high calibre of students in the final six, which is encouraging and bodes well for the future of our industry.

“We are now looking forward to Rebecca joining us on her placement. Mole Valley Farmers and the RABDF will continue to work together to encourage, develop and promote young people who can work to deliver innovative and practical solutions to the challenges of modern dairy farming,” he said.

For more news from Dairy-Tech 2023, visit www.dairy-tech.uk