Harper Life 2019 - Alumni Magazine

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 100th annual Royal Welsh Show (RWS) and has close family ties with the show. Ifan, who graduated 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.” The future is bright for Ifan, who has accepted a regional manager role for Noble Foods, covering Wales and South West England. RWAS/Harper Cymru Award 2019 A dairy farm in Flintshire has been named as the first AHDB strategic dairy farm in Wales. Run by John and Anna Booth as part of a shared farming partnership, Rhual Dairy is an all-year-round-calving herd with 336 Holstein Friesian cows. By becoming a strategic dairy farm, Rhual Dairy will host on-farm events, sharing best practice as well as technical and financial performance against AHDB’s key performance indicators. John Booth said he was “really pleased” to be asked to be the first strategic dairy farm for Wales. “We are hoping that by becoming a strategic farm, it will enable us to pay more attention to key performance indicators and help us achieve our business goals through listening to other farmers and other industry professionals,” he explained. John and Anna Booth both graduated fromHarper Adams in 1997 where they studied Agriculture with Animal Science. John became an assistant farmmanager on an estate and Anna became a dairy specialist for an independent dairy company. Alumni running first strategic dairy farm in Wales