An East Kilbride student is the cream of the crop after winning a UK-wide agricultural competition.
Olivia Kelly is part of a team from Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) which won the Institute of Agricultural Management’s Farm Planner competition with her four teammates.
Usually, the cost of sending a team to a farm visit in England has prevented SRUC from entering, but this year, due to Covid-19 restrictions, the students were able to join an online introduction to The Blagdon Estate, near Newcastle.
Olivia and her team – which included another student from SRUC Riverside and three from SRUC Craibstone in Aberdeen – had to come up with a proposal about how to improve the business and take advantage of extra land.
They were among five teams to reach the final earlier this month and were selected as winners due to their “good, sensible and achievable suggestions for the farm”.
Olivia, 27, who joined SRUC from South Lanarkshire College, told Lanarkshire Live: “Being part of the winning team for the IAgrM Farm Planner competition has been an honour. It has allowed us to show our passion for conservation and environmental protection through unique and innovative entrepreneurial management and marketing strategies.”
William Mackay, programme team leader for Rural Business Management in SRUC’s south and west faculty, said: “I am delighted and proud that the RBM cross faculty team has won this prestigious competition.
"The judges’ comments were that our team’s objectives displayed a commitment to sustainability and innovation in line with the objectives of the host estate. The presentation on the day was enthusiastic yet professional and reflected painstaking attention to detail.”
And chairman of the judges, Tim Brigstocke added: “The SRUC team showed a very good appreciation of the aims and objectives of the Estate and answered the questions posed on that basis, suggesting minor tweaks to the arable and dairy cow enterprises, introducing Shetland sheep, as well as a traditional apple orchard selling to the Blagdon Farm Shop - which would develop its own more distinctive branding.
“These were all good, sensible and achievable suggestions for the farm which would improve sustainability and enhance its financial performance.”
