Six next generation farmers have won a £5,000 bursary each to help them boost their interest in sustainable farming practices.
The Sustainable Agriculture Bursary supports the winners’ academic studies at either the Royal Agricultural University or the University of Reading.
It provides them with a £3,000 cash award in their first year and a further £1,000 cash award - provided by their university - in both their second and third years of study.
According to organisers Jordans Cereals and the Prince’s Countryside Fund, the second year of the bursary was highly competitive with three times as many applications compared to 2019/20.
The six beneficiaries are Alice Lloyd (RAU), Eliot Pears (RAU), Philip Betteridge (RAU), Astrid Stubbings (Reading), Dan Weaver (Reading), and Grace Parrish (Reading).
Grace said: “I am excited to be given the opportunity to be working with experts in the field and continue my own personal development for my studies and future career.
"Coming from a family arable farm, the support and guidance I will receive from the mentoring and extra opportunities this bursary provides will prove invaluable.
"I will be able to directly implement the knowledge to make a real change towards a more sustainable future for farming.”
Prospective undergraduate students who have confirmed the RAU or the University of Reading as their first-choice place of study on UCAS for September 2021 will be able to apply for year three of the bursary.
Applications will open over winter 2020 and 2021.
