People

Leading Aberdeen-Angus breeder recognised with an MBE for her services to the breed

Anne Morrison founding member of the Aberdeen-Angus Quality Beef (AAQB) co-operative has been awarded an MBE for her promotion of the breed and services to the agricultural sector over the last 40 years.

Growing up on her family farm in Perthshire, Mrs Morrison has always had a passion for agriculture, so when she saw what the Aberdeen-Angus breed could offer farmers and the supply chain, she was keen to promote this.

“My drive to bring AberdeenAngus back to the forefront of beef production stems from when I started working for the Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture in 1969 with my colleague at the time Jim Jack, who was very enthusiastic supporter of the breed,” explains Mrs Morrison. “A few years later my husband and I started the Tullyglush herd with the purchase of two heifers, from which our herd has grown over the years.”

Mrs Morrison says the challenge back then was that the market demand for AberdeenAngus was very limited. So, along with Jim Jack and NI club members we set out to increase the awareness of the benefits of Aberdeen-Angus in the hope we could raise the appetite for this breed in Northern Ireland.

“When a butcher approached the NI club for cattle in 1994, we saw this as a fantastic opportunity. A feasibility study identified a possible supply of five cattle per week. In 1997 I led a successful breed promotion campaign which resulted in the formation of the AAQB co-operative in April 1998.

2022 CLAAS Scholar announced

Molly Robinson, a Year 2 BEng Agricultural Engineering student at Harper Adams University has been awarded the 2022 CLAAS Scholarship. Molly is the first female student to win the prestigious Scholarship, which was instigated 16 years ago by Helmut Claas. As this year’s scholar, Molly will receive £3000 towards her education costs each academic year, in addition to an initial three-month placement with a CLAAS UK owned dealership prior to a 12-month paid placement at the CLAAS headquarters at Harsewinkel in Germany.

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Applications Open for 2023 Nuffield Scholarships

Applications for 2023 Nuffield Farming Scholarship are now open online until 31 July 2022 and can be completed by visiting www.NuffieldScholar. org and clicking the “Apply” button. Those interested can also find additional details about the awards and the process of applying on the website.

NFU Mutual launches national award for postgraduate agricultural students

NFU Mutual’s 2022 Centenary Award is now open for applications. The annual award scheme provides bursaries to pay up to 75% of course fees for selected students who are undertaking a postgraduate course in agriculture (Masters or PhD) within the UK.

The Centenary Award was created by the NFU Mutual Charitable Trust in 2010 to celebrate NFU Mutual’s 100th anniversary, with the objective of creating a legacy for the future.

Megan Powell (photographed here) from Powys, was one of three postgraduate agricultural students to receive the Centenary Award bursary in 2021, helping fund her MSc Sustainable Food and Agriculture at the University of Reading. Megan explained how the award will help her to achieve her ambitions: “It is a real honour to have NFU Mutual supporting my postgraduate studies. Through the course, I hope to gain the ability to understand strategic decision making, opinion forming and operational management for the development of sustainable agriculture and food supply systems. I want to act as an advocate for the industry in the UK and help lead it to a positive and prosperous future.”Prospective postgraduate students who think they may be eligible to apply for the Centenary Award in 2022 should contact centenary_award@ nfumutual.co.uk to request further details and an application form.

The closing date for the 2022 award is 30th April. Information about the scheme, along with an application form, can be found on the NFU Mutual website: www.nfumutual.co.uk