A team of 3 students from Writtle College have been busy competing in the Farmers' Weekly Farm Planner of the year competition. Alex Baines, James Scarff and Sam Rowe, all BSc Agriculture students, were successful in getting through to the final of the competition. This year Ragley Estate in Warwickshire was chosen to be at the centre of the farm planner competition.
The brief given was to look at four aspects of the farm, the first aspect was to centralise the estate as Ragley has a number of sub farms. The second aspect required the team to review the livestock operations at the farm, reviewing whether it was important to keep the animals and if so how things could be effectively improved. Ragley uses renewable energy, so the third aspect revolved around how it would be possible to expand on this and make it more effective. Finally the team were asked to consider the branding of Ragley Estate and how this could be built upon.
The finals were held at the Royal Show and each team were asked to give a presentation to support their recommendations; Alex, James and Sam came a very close runner up to the team from Harper Adams.
Over the last four years, Writtle has won this National competition once and has secured a place in the final twice – testament to the excellent academic standards at the College. It is particularly pleasing to note that two of the students started as National Diploma students here at Writtle College, they all look forward to graduating at Chelmsford Cathedral this September.
Sam Rowe on behalf of the team said; "The Farm Planner has been an enjoyable two month competition. We worked on this during our own time, but the effort we put in has all been worth it, and on hearing we reached the finals we were all very pleased with the proposals and recommendations suggested.
I have now completed my studies and I am now working, the Farm Planner was an excellent way to conclude my studies at the College."
