Dedication sees Shropshire student shortlisted for Dairy Student of the Year 2022
Max Mitchell
A student who chose his course at Harper Adams for its strong commercial and business focus has been named as a finalist in this year’s Dairy Student of the Year competition.
Max Mitchell, from Shrewsbury in Shropshire, was one of two students chosen from a shortlist of six to go ahead to the prestigious prize’s final on 2 February.
He was selected after impressing a judging panel at a London event at the Farmers’ Club with a presentation on how the dairy industry may need to adapt to future challenges.
BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Farm Business Management student Max said: “After being shortlisted, we were invited to submit an essay response on a case study dairy farm.
“This involved evaluating technical performance and suggesting necessary improvements for this dairy business. A prioritised SWOT analysis was composed and changes to environmental legislation, succession planning proposals and alternative farming arrangements were also addressed.
“Successful candidates were then invited to the Farmer’s Club to do a 15-minute presentation, followed by 10 minutes of questions on whether the future is bright for GB dairy farming.
“Doing the presentation itself was nerve wracking and I had been worried about it for many weeks prior, juggling it with incoming assignment submission deadlines.
“Despite this, I was confident in my ability to get ideas across and provide industry insights in front of the judging panel.”
Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers vice-chairs Di Wastenage and Robert Craig, Mole Valley Farmers’ James Hague and Chloe Cross from Kite Consulting are this year’s judges.
The final winner will be announced at Dairy-Tech 2022 in Warwickshire, and will get a £750 prize as well as a six-month paid placement with award sponsor Mole Valley Farmers.
Max added: “Hailing from a non-farming background, receiving recognition for this award will be a culmination of long hours, hard work and dedication to dairy farming.
“The award has been an ambition of mine for a long time, as one of my former dairy mentors previously won this award.
“I had made it a personal objective to attempt to participate as and when the opportunity arose.”
Max has praised Harper Adams for providing him with a sense of community and a uniquely structured environment in which to pursue his degree – which he chose for its strong business focus.
He added: “BSc (Hons) Agriculture with Farm Business Management appealed to me because of the emphasis placed on commercial awareness and formulating long and short-term business strategies for establishing viability.
“I chose Harper Adams because of the esteemed reputation for providing and delivering rural education and securing employment upon graduation. The inclusion of the placement process also developed my practical ability and further incentivised attainment in my final year.”