Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵ

A competition-winning student from Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵ has been profiled by food industry management training provider MDS.

MDS offers an incredible opportunity for graduates from all degree backgrounds to explore diverse and exciting careers in the food and fresh produce industry.  They visited dozens of careers fairs up and down the country, and during their visit to the annual Harper Adams careers fair, they met final-year BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Animal Science student Minnie Cooke.

Minnie, originally from Limavady in Northern Ireland, went on to win a prize draw with MDS and while visiting their offices, she spoke with them about her studies to date, her work as a Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵ student ambassador, her thoughts on how technology can drive farm welfare - and much more.

Some highlights from her interview are below – and you can read the .

Can you share a bit about your background and what inspired you to pursue a career in agriculture?

In high school, I studied biology, chemistry, and computer science, but I wasn’t keen on a pure tech career. I wanted to work with animals, so I initially thought veterinary science was the way to go. After two years, I realised I only really enjoyed the agricultural modules. I’d done work experience on farms but didn’t know agriculture was an option for me; it wasn’t until I came to Harper that I learned I could pursue it. There is such a strong awareness at Harper of the shortage of young people with agricultural skills entering the field, so there’s an urgent need to recruit talent from other industries. I basically heard I could drive a tractor, I can go out and work on farms, I can be around animals, and, as corny as it sounds, I can feed people and actually contribute. We all eat; agriculture is one of the few businesses where you are part of someone’s life every day. I transferred to their access-ag programme and gained agricultural qualifications before starting my degree.

How do you see technology influencing in the future of farming?

I’m actually doing a research project on that very topic. Currently I’m conducting a focus group alongside a wider PhD research project where we’re going to be asking stakeholders in the pig production industry how they feel about precision technology, where they believe there are barriers to its use and how they think we can support them as an industry in implementing this technology. One of the very prominent themes in UK agriculture is that we do really good research, but then we don’t implement it on farms. There is technology there for us to use, and certainly it’s seen really good use in countries like the Netherlands. We can never operate to the same intensification as some other countries, due to how we handle our welfare and our public perception, but what we can farm with is high welfare, high technologically capable, really productive farms.

Are you involved in pig production? Interested in the role of technologies in providing a good life for pigs and producers???

Join us for our pig industry workshop on 10th Jan for lively discussions from experts, followed by a tour of our Future Farm????

— Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵ (@HarperAdamsUni)

What’s been one of your most fulfilling days working in the industry so far?

It’s got to be one of the days I did as part of my student ambassador work at uni. We did a Future Farming Day with a group of local primary school kids. We had them eat insect proteins (I ate them too!), and we took them around the farm. It was amazing to be able to impart wisdom and actually share to the younger generation about how farming works and how the future of farming will look for them. They were so keen about it! They came up and hugged me afterwards, and I did think I might cry!

What advice would you give to individuals without a farming background who are considering a career in agriculture?

If you’re interested in purely farm work or management, you could start directly on a farm. But if you do want to work in other sectors and you’re not from a farming background – university or some form of higher education is a really good choice. It teaches you the basics that you otherwise would take a very long time to learn on the job. There’s a lot that goes into producing food that I think people don’t realise. We have limited land and resources, and the demand for food will only grow; the only way we can produce more food is to get way better at farming. You know, about 200 years ago before the onset of the Massey Ferguson tractor, we wouldn’t have thought we’d get the outputs that we get now. I really think things are only going to improve, and I personally believe technology is the way forward.