CRV scholarship winners en route to Holland

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

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