CRV scholarship winners en route to Holland
Massey University Master’s graduate Nicole Steele and Lincoln University Honour’s graduate Peter West are about to
embark on an all-expenses-paid trip to Holland thanks to a scholarship from CRV Ambreed.
Steele and West will spend time in the herd improvement company’s head office in Arnhem learning about the AI industry
and the work CRV is doing globally to develop its herd management programme for dairy farmers.
Steele graduated from Massey University earlier this year with a Master of Science in Animal Science. Originally awarded
the scholarship in 2012, the trip has been a long time coming. She said she’s looking forward to finding out more about
dairy systems in Holland and will be bringing back her learnings to support her PhD studies next year.
“I want to gain more knowledge around the challenges faced by dairy farmers globally, the level of farmer participation
in herd improvement schemes, and CRV’s work in the area of disease control and prevention using genetics and breeding,”
she explained.
“Ultimately I want to help New Zealand farmers be competitive with the rest of the world. This trip will help me to get
a greater appreciation of the dairy industry across the world, which I haven’t been able to get from my university
studies alone.”
Peter West’s journey to Holland has also been in the pipeline for some time.
He graduated from Lincoln University with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science with Honours in late-2012 and is currently
employed as a project analyst at Farm Source, a Fonterra subsidiary that provides rewards, service, information,
financial options and support to New Zealand dairy farmers.
“New Zealand has been world leading in the dairy industry, but the industry is coming under greater pressure globally.
This trip will provide a chance to learn more about the dairy industry overseas and bring those learnings back to New
Zealand,” said West.
CRV Ambreed offers two scholarships each year to an undergraduate science student from both Massey and Lincoln
Universities. Now in its fifth year, the scheme has contributed upwards of $150,000 to the development of its successful
recipients.
The scholarships include a trip to one of CRV’s international business units of the students’ choice in Czech Republic,
Brazil, the USA or Holland, and $3,000 towards to the cost of the students’ tertiary studies.
Business development and research and development manager Phil Beatson said CRV Ambreed was proud to support the
industry’s future stars like Nicole Steele and Peter West and it was an important initiative that the company would
continue to invest in.
“We’re look for scholarship applicants that are motivated to develop a career in dairy genetics, have a great attitude,
and have the brainpower to make a positive contribution to the dairy industry in the future.”
ENDS