A Harper Adams student has been crowned this year’s RABDF Dairy Student Award winner after beating four others.
Patrick Denny, final year student at Harper Adams University, was presented with a £1,000 cash prize and trophy. The runner up was Aimee Ash, also from Harper Adams.
The Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers (RABDF) competition began in 1990 and aims to find the top dairy student from the UK agricultural colleges and universities.
The son of two dentists, Patrick did not grow up on a farm but has been getting on-farm experience since the age of 14.
He spent his placement year working on a 450 cow, autumn calving, grass-based farm in Cheshire and is due to start work at Velcourt as a trainee dairy farm manager once he has finished at Harper this summer.
Patrick and Aimee were chosen from entries from seven agricultural colleges and universities across the country.
Each gave a presentation on ‘The UK Dairy industry in the next 10 years’ before taking part in a discussion session chaired by Mike Green, editor of British Dairying.
'Extremely high standards'
Patrick said he was delighted to have won this year’s competition and to have brought the title back to Harper for a fourth consecutive year.
“The whole experience has been great and I’m looking forward to seeing what future doors may open as a result of winning the award,” he said.
Peter Alvis, RABDF vice-chairman and head judge said the standard of finalists was "extremely high" this year, but Patrick and Aimee both stood out with their innovative ideas and well-rounded arguments.
Mr Alvis said: “Patrick had a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities set to face the industry in the coming years with great ideas of how to exploit these for the benefit of the sector.
“RABDF is committed to encouraging new entrants through our training courses and awards and we were impressed that four of the five finalists were from non-farming backgrounds. This clearly shows the desire of high calibre young people to join the dairy industry is as strong as ever.”
