NI Farming Awards: Rebekah Evans picks up Young Farmer of the Year accolade

Rebekah Evans took to the stage at the Crowne Plaza Belfast to accept the Young Farmer of the Year award.

A nomination for Rebekah described how she worked part-time at a local agri supplies store while also studying for her A Levels.

“I could immediately see an admirable work ethic and ability to pick up information and tasks instantly for such a young age, she literally could ‘turn her hand to anything’,” the nomination continued.

“Her animal health knowledge is second to none, again for such a young age, which was gained from her experience working on the family farm and from what she had learned working part-time.

“She is so eager and willing to learn every aspect of farming and has gained a wealth of qualifications, achievements and experience within the farming industry for someone so young.” Rebekah lives on the family farm with her parents, two sisters and her granny, where, as a family, they farm the land and work with 50+ dairy cows, and 60 commercial breeding ewes. In her spare time, she is very much hands on at the family farm,. Rebekah helps with the day to day running of the farm, feeding calves using a twice a day feeding method, managing the breeding plan for the herd and she also AIs the cows when they are on heat.

Rebekah also assists with the farm accounts using technology such as click one accounts and Excel spreadsheets, carries out general husbandry tasks such as tagging, vaccinating etc and carries out tractor driving tasks such as slurry, silage etc. Rebekah has been studying at Greenmount College towards a Foundation Degree in Agriculture and, as well as doing her part-time jobs, she is currently coming to the end of a 12-week placement with Fane Valley. Rebekah also works two to three evenings per week and/or at the weekend at a local dairy farm which has 600 milk cows, 800 youngstock, 150 beef, and 1,000 acres of land farmed. Rebekah has a keen interest in dairy cattle and she has also been developing her own herd of pedigree cattle. She currently has 12 pedigree Holstein heifer calves which she plans to rear and calve and would like to keep increasing the herd; she recently joined the Holstein Young Breeders.

Rebekah also has a keen interest within the pig industry and has had the foresight to independently gain farrowing experience on a local farrowing unit which she would like to pursue further.

Whilst studying, working on the family farm, working for a dairy farmer and working part-time, Rebekah also found time to be elected President of the student council in Greenmount.

The student council was set up to empower and encourage students to embrace student life and meets regularly to discuss student issues and to plan social activities, both on and off campus.

They have raised money for local charities, including mental health charities and air ambulance.

Rebekah also organised the student formal, which is a big event in the life of any student, looked forward to by students from the start of their new term and is very time consuming, taking months of preparation. In recognition of her dedication to the student council, she was awarded the SRC cup.

Rebekah excelled in her studies and achievements and gained invaluable experience with her dedication to farming, her part time jobs, and work placement.

She gained A* in GCSE Agriculture and received the Harper Adams Award in recognition, received the Norbrook Cup for performance in animal health whilst studying Level 3 Agriculture and was awarded the Genus ABS bursary, to name just a few of Rebekah’s achievements. Looking to the future, Rebekah would like to further her education into Honours in Agriculture and Sustainability, with the hope of pursuing a career in either animal health or genetics, as well as growing her herd of pedigree cattle further.

Highly commended in this category was Christine Marshall of Marshall Beekeeping.

Christine has grown from two bee hives to 50 hives on her family farm, in only four short years.

She provides Northern Ireland, Ireland and Great Britain with her products and has introduced new and imaginative products such as various honey confectionaries and honey caramel sauce; with desire to go further.

Her food products have also won various food awards in 2024, showcasing the quality of her work so far.

The highlight was winning gold at a global honey competition in May.

She has also been nominated for Entrepreneur of the Year 2024 in a local competition, nominated by those who have had positive interactions with her.

Alongside her food products Christine also makes her own beeswax products such as Candles, Wax melts & Beeswax Wraps (environmentally friendly clingfilm) with a firm desire to increase this portfolio into beeswax cosmetics and beyond. Christine single handily maintains her hives ensuring the best welfare of her bees; encourages strong hive development to increase honey yield, whilst prioritising growing her over all hive numbers on her journey to being a leading honey producer.

She is always educating herself on the latest beekeeping methods and uses both natural and chemical processes where necessary to ensure bee health, encouraging a strong genetic profile in future strains of honeybees.

Despite two challenging years in the beekeeping world due to inclement weather, Christine has pushed forward with successful growth of her business and, whilst she still works part time at this stage to help with increasing costs of the business, is confident she will have several under her employ in the next few years both hands on with the bees and in product production roles.