Harper Life Magazine 2020

Harper Life Nov 2020 — 7 CLIVEGURNEY CHAIRMAN CLARKEWILLISMBE, FRAgS I was born with a passion of caring for animals and the countryside. My time as a student at Harper Adams proved to be a life changing experience that provided me with many of the answers to make my dreams come true: Knowledge, Confidence and the Ability to make things happen. I can honestly say that I have enjoyed everyday of my agricultural career and feel content that despite the highs and lows of life, I have fulfilled all of my life expectations. I have made a difference- encouraging our beloved agricultural community to be a more efficient and environmentally caring industry. It has been a great pleasure to be able to say thank you, serving as a governor at Harper for eight years and to work on the Development Trust helping to support students and facilitate projects at the University. Mr Gurney, a graduate of Harper Adams, farms a 400-acre dairy unit and 200-acre arable unit in Wigmore, Herefordshire, and was a member of the Board of Governors 2002 – 2010. He has also been awarded a Fellowship of Harper Adams. He has held a number of positions in the farming sector, including Chairman of the Cheshire Grassland Society and the Cheshire Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, and has served as Chairman of the Herefordshire Grassland Society, Herefordshire Agricultural Society. I was at Harper from 1971 to 1974 on the second intake of HND (Agri) and enjoyed both the learning and social life and made lifelong friends. I joined the Harper Adams University Development Trust in March 2015 and my term finishes in March 2023. I first heard about the Development Trust in 2010. Anglia Farmers attended the annual Careers Fair and took two Harper placement students each year. Supporting them in their early years at Harper, during their placement year and in some cases their final year with a job offer when they graduated seemed a natural progression and worked extremely well. As Alumni who have a great careers in the industry, we owe it to the next generation to support them in their formative years. Encouraging your company to offer a scholarship not only is good for your company profile but it encourages future talent into our industry. Clarke is a Director of the Norfolk Food Enterprise Park which is developing major processing and support facilities for the AgriFood supply chain in the Eastern region, and was CEO of Anglia Farmers, the £250m agricultural input supply co-operative for 15 years until his “retirement” in June 2017. His career also encompassed Board roles at British Sugar plc, Dengie Crops and Dalgety Agriculture. He was awarded an MBE in 2016 for Services to Agriculture and awarded Fellowship of Royal Agricultural Societies in 2019. MATTHEWBLAKEN REALM 1995 – 1999. Director of DJ&P Newland Rennie with 7 offices in Gloucestershire, Somerset and South East Wales. I have always maintained regular contact with the REALM team having employed over 25 placement, graduates and apprentices and our current surveying team having 8 excellent graduates. I was inspired by the work of the Development Trust team and have seen how it has helped graduates in their final year, both financially and professionally. As a former Harper scholar at the Oxford Farming Conference, I am also aware of how such opportunities help provide reassurance that graduates can and will make an impact in their chosen industry. I am honoured to be a Trustee and rewarded by being part of the exemplary work of the University and its students but equally by the connections with industry sponsors and other members of the Trust team which continues to demonstrate to me, how positively Harper is viewed in the business world. www.harper-adams.ac.uk