26 February 2019
Farming Connect’s recruitment campaign for the 2019 intake of Agri Academy candidates is open!
Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, officially launched Agri Academy 2019, at the Farmers’ Union of Wales annual farmhouse breakfast at Cardiff Bay on January the 22nd.
The Agri Academy, now in its seventh year and with 200 alumni, brings together some of the most promising people making their way in the agricultural industry in Wales today.
Comprising three distinct elements, the Agri Academy’s Rural Leadership programme, a collaboration with the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society, aims to develop and nurture a new generation of leaders. The Business and Innovation programme offers personal and business development to help meet the challenges of farming in the future, while the Junior Academy, run in partnership with Wales YFC, is targeted at youngsters aged 16-19 considering a career in the food and farming industries.
Here is what some of our alumni had to say about their Agri Academy experiences:
Branwen Miles, Rural Leadership Programme 2017
Welsh and French speaker Branwen Miles (25) is a graduate of the Rural Leadership Programme in 2017. She was recently appointed to the role of Project Officer at the European Landowners Organisation in Brussels. It’s a post which involves her visiting rural areas throughout Europe to promote a range of European funded projects relating to agriculture, the environment and rural development.
Branwen grew up on her family’s 310 acre organic dairy farm near Haverfordwest, where her parents, who are first generation farmers, had moved from Ceredigion in the late 90s. She loves going home and enjoys helping out with the family’s herd of 120 cows and takes a keen interest in the family’s plan to convert to robotic milking. Her father Dai was one of the Agri Academy’s first intake of students and a persuasive advocate when Branwen first mentioned applying!
Branwen, who worked as a policy adviser with CLA Wales before her current post, read international politics and French at Aberystwyth University, which involved spending a year studying in Strasbourg and says it was always her dream to work overseas.
“The Agri Academy is an amazing support network, where advice and ideas are shared willingly and friendships for life are forged – we still have our Whatsapp group!
“When others believe in you, you start to believe in yourself and realise you need to grasp any opportunities which come your way, even if it means raising your head above the parapet sometimes.
“I knew I wanted to work in Brussels but with Brexit that opportunity may never have come around again. When it did, the confidence I gained from the Agri Academy is what made me take the plunge!”
“I had always known that I wanted a career which involves me in the policy side of agriculture rather than grass roots farming, but my continuing links with the Agri Academy and the family farm means that I am never too far away from fields and cow muck!”
Jacob Anthony, Business & Innovation Programme 2014
Fifth-generation farmer Jacob Anthony is a graduate of the Agri Academy Business and Innovation Programme 2014. Jacob, who farms on the family farm at Cwm Risca in Tondu, near Bridgend, won the prestigious Farmers Weekly Young Farmer of the Year award in 2018.
In their citation, the award judges said that Jacob was passionate about progress, and had taken every opportunity to improve his knowledge, update his management systems and stabilise his cashflow. Jacob says that his Agri Academy experience was a hugely contributory factor to his personal development and one which he highly recommends to other individuals working in agriculture in Wales.
After completing a three-year agriculture diploma at Hartpury College, Jacob returned home to Cwm Risca where he was given sole responsibility for the sheep enterprise. He now runs 1,000 Lleyn cross Texel breeding ewes and 300 head of cattle, including 110 Welsh Black cross Limousin/Charolais suckler cows, and 10 pedigree Welsh Blacks.
Since returning to the family farm, he has implemented changes to improve efficiency and reduce input costs. A keen member of a Farming Connect sheep discussion group, Jacob recently introduced a new sheep-handling system which has helped make flock management easier.
“I firmly believe that it’s essential to keep on developing your skills and knowledge because that’s the only way you will develop your business and ensure you make the most of every opportunity to improve performance.
“My Agri Academy experience gave me huge confidence, new skills and a new network of like-minded individuals and inspirational mentors.
“I would advise anyone thinking of applying for the Agri Academy to go ahead, it’s been a life-changing experience for many of us, which has had enormous personal benefits and helped us develop our business acumen too.”
Fflur Roberts, Junior Programme 2017
Former Caereinion High School pupil, Fflur Roberts is a graduate of the Agri Academy Junior Programme 2017. Welsh speaker Fflur is currently in her final year of studies for her Level 3 Extended Diploma at the NPTC Group of Colleges’ Newtown School of Agriculture campus at Bronlas.
This ambitious young farmer was brought up on the family hill farm in Llangadfan. Determined to combine academic studies with practical work experience, when Fflur is not in college, she has a part time job at a local dairy, sheep and poultry enterprise and also enjoys helping out at home.
Fflur credits her Agri Academy experience with giving her the confidence to set her sights high for the future and says it has made her determined to continue in higher education, something she had not planned previously. She says that the programme highlighted the many opportunities available to young people wanting careers in agriculture today and hopes that her new-found sense of ambition, combined with determination and hard work, will help lead her to a rewarding, lucrative career.
Despite her youth, Fflur (18) has already achieved some notable successes. At the Royal Welsh Winter Fair 2018 she was not only runner-up for Lantra’s Young Learner of the Year award, which she received from Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs, but she also won first prize and Supreme Champion in the Young Farmers Clubs Prime Hill Lamb Producer category, as well as second prize in the Carcass (Hill) category.
Fflur, a keen rugby player and active member of Llanfair Caereinion YFC which she has represented at both a local and county level, says that the Agri Academy has been a life-changing experience.
“The Agri Academy is condensed into just three study weekends or visits, but I could never have believed just how inspiring and rewarding the programme would prove, or how valuable the contacts I made would be.
“Before joining the Agri Academy, I was limited by my own lack of knowledge and had very modest aspirations for the future so I would urge anyone thinking of applying to grab this fantastic opportunity.”
Fflur’s plan for the next stage of learning is attend university where she would like to study agri-food marketing. Alongside that, she is also set on a study visit to New Zealand to give her a different perspective on red meat production.
“I’ll take any chance that comes my way. I want to gain more experience and I’m eager to learn from others. I’m in the right mind set thanks to the Agri Academy.”
The application window for Agri Academy 2019 opened on January 22nd and will close on 31 March. Eligibility is open to business partners, immediate family members (spouses, sons and daughters) and employees (on PAYE) of Farming Connect registered businesses.
Farming Connect is funded by the Welsh Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.