Agriculture Needs Dedicated Young People

Agriculture Needs Dedicated Young People

For agriculture to continue to develop requires a stream of well educated agriculturalists entering the industry, says Ben Hindmarsh the winner of this year’s Hugh Williams Ravensdown Memorial Scholarship.

Hawkes Bay’s Hindmarsh is a first-year student at Lincoln University, studying for a Bachelor in Commerce (Agricultural Management).

Hindmarsh’s ambition is to own his own farm and he wants to be able to use his degree to further his agricultural knowledge.

“One of the key things keeping the agricultural industry functioning is the injection of young, skilled people, and in today’s financial climate it is important they have a passion to develop the industry.

“With New Zealand’s agricultural industry being so large there is a wide range of career options available. The entire production process involved in supplying and exporting a product requires skilled young labour to continue development and improve sustainability,” says Hindmarsh.

The annual Hugh Williams Ravensdown Memorial scholarship offers sons or daughters of Ravensdown shareholders $5000 per year for the duration of their studies for an agricultural or horticultural degree at Lincoln or Massey University. As winner, Hindmarsh will also be offered paid holiday work with Ravensdown.

The scholarship was established eight years ago in memory of the late Hugh Williams who was a Ravensdown director from 1987 to 2000.

“The scholarship will cover my fees and means I’ll have a better kick-start to my career. I also have some practical requirements for my degree so the opportunity to work in a business setting will be useful. I feel very privileged to be involved with Ravensdown,” Hindmarsh says.

The Williams family has stayed closely involved with the scholarship selection process and Adrienne Williams says it’s pleasing to see the young talent coming through.

“We really encourage shareholders whose children want to go into agriculture to apply for the scholarship. Agriculture is still the backbone of this country’s economy and this scholarship is a great opportunity for sons and daughters of shareholders to get a helping hand for their studies,” says Mrs Williams. “Past scholarship winners have been real achievers, with great results.”

Steven Foote, a previous recipient, graduated last year and was taken on by Ravensdown in an account manager role in Nelson.

“As well as the actual scholarship it was great to have the company keeping track of how I was getting on with my Agricultural Science degree. I had holiday work with a key account manager and that gave me an insight into the company and the account manager role. So I jumped at the the job opportunity when it came up,” says Foote.

ENDS

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