Virtual events

Women in Agriculture Scotland

By Alana Black, WiAS Committee Member

After 18 months of virtual events, it was fantastic to be able to bring together the Women in Agriculture Scotland group at the autumn event: Shine a light on Women in Agriculture Food and Farming event.

Held in the new Members’ Pavilion at the Royal Highland Showground, attendees came from across Scotland to participate in the AGM and hear from two cracking guest speakers.

The AGM was conducted by RSABI Chair Nina Clancy with the positions of Chair and Vice Chair filled by Aylett Roan, of Roan Dairies, and Heather Wildman respectively. The committee also welcomed three new members with Alix Ritchie, Ellie Sinclair and Carole Brunton voted onto the governing body.

Professor Jude Capper kicked off the speaker session. Jude is an independent Livestock Sustainability Consultant based in Oxfordshire, UK, who undertook her BSc (Agriculture with Animal Science) and PhD (Ruminant Nutrition and Behaviour) at Harper Adams University College (UK), followed by post-doctoral research at Cornell University (USA) and a faculty position at Washington State University (USA).

Jude’s research focuses on modelling the environmental impact of livestock production systems, specifically dairy and beef. Her initial work in this area concentrated on quantifying the improvements in environmental impacts made by improving dairy productivity, including