Samuel Hay-Smith (2014/15 BBM Youth Support Agriculture Awardee in honour of Frank Mansell) has returned his report back detailing his experiences of his award. To read the whole report Click Here.

“My experience whilst I was in the Shropshire area was far beyond what I had imagined, the scenery, hospitality and agricultural practices in the area were for lack of a better word awesome. The hospitality of the local farmers in the area was felt as being open hearted and welcoming, they made me feel like home; the students I met whilst staying at Andrews house were great and knowledgeable people who were more than willing to compare their studies at Harper Adams university with the studies that I am and have participated with Charles Stuart university and with the Riverina institute of TAFE at the Primary Industry centre; the students that I met there were studying environmental science and a bachelor of science which both degrees related to agriculture in certain ways, the knowledge that Andrey, Ross and the students had provided me with was a great starting point for understanding how agricultural practices were conducted in the United Kingdom and later proved to be valuable for starting conversation with other farmers in the UK and relating to them when comparing Australian agriculture to UK agriculture. The Shropshire area was very similar to the Wagga Wagga region (more in the south west slopes) in Australia and I found that they were experiencing very similar difficulties in agriculture to what we were experiencing in that region.”

“My experience in the East Lothian area was very productive and extremely knowledgeable; the people in the area were very accommodating and helpful. My experience with Stewart was very interesting in terms of gaining knowledge in the agronomy field of the UK and the management of livestock in the area, I am grateful that Stewart was able to come out and show me around his clients farms and his family’s farm considering he had a broken foot. My experience with Chris’s was again very knowledgeable in terms of learning about potato crops which I have had little experience with given that the area I come form in Australia does not grow them, I also found Chris’s knowledge of the area very helpful in terms of local knowledge and helping me out finding things to do and see in the area during my free days of my trip. The field day that Chris held was also a very informative day and I found it very relatable to what we are currently doing in Australia in terms of precision agriculture. ”

10th November, 2015