New full-time students are being invited to write a 1,000-word essay on one of three topics about the future of Welsh farming suggested by the Farmers’ Union of Wales which launched its annual £1,000 bursary on its stand at the Urdd National Eisteddfod yesterday (Wednesday June 2).
The topics are:
- What challenges will climate change create for farming and food production in Wales over the next 50 years?
- What should the Welsh farming industry and government do to attract more young people into agriculture?
- How would you give the Welsh farming industry a facelift to attract more support and loyalty from the general public?
Last year the adjudicators decided to award £700 to the bursary winner, 19-year-old Harper Adams University College student Iestyn Russell.
Iestyn, of Cwmann, near Lampeter, Carmarthenshire, received his award from FUW president Gareth Vaughan on the union’s stand at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair last December.
Iestyn, an enthusiastic member of Cwmann YFC and last year’s Wales YFC best junior stockman, also worked on the family’s dairy and sheep farm at Cwmann and on a neighbouring beef and sheep farm before deciding to go to university to study for a degree in rural enterprise and land management. “But my dream of farming is still as real as ever,” he said.
Runner-up to Iestyn was 19-year-old David Evans, of Groeswen Farm House, Groeswen, Cardiff, who is studying for an agriculture BSc degree at Aberystwyth University. He received £200.
Third was 22-year-old Manod Williams, of Tregerddan, Bow Street, near Aberystwyth, who is also studying for BSc in agriculture with animal science at Aberystwyth. He received £100.
Full details on how to apply for the bursary are included in a leaflet available from the FUW’s head office in Aberystwyth or at any of the union’s local branch offices as well as on the FUW stand at the Eisteddfod.
The closing date for applications is October 1, 2010.
