Agriculture students earn national recognition

Agriculture students at Derby College Group have been highly commended in a national farm planning competition.

It was the first time that DCG’s Broomfield Hall land-based and leisure college had put a team forward for the Institute of Agricultural Management’s Farm Planner competition, which was held virtually this year and open to all UK Further Education and Higher Education colleges.

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The DCG team comprised of five Level 3 first year students who were tasked to design a farm plan for competition hosts Blagdon Estate in Northumberland.

The students had to consider how to secure the long term future of Blagdon Estate using eco-friendly and sustainable methods for transforming 200 hectares of land into arable, livestock and woodland to support the farm shop.

Agriculture teacher Mark Ekin said: “The students did a fantastic job both with their research and presentation and we were delighted that they were highly commended – especially considering the winners were Higher Education students from the large and prestigious Scotland’s Rural College.

“It was a therefore a very commendable result on our first entry into this national competition and a great opportunity for the students to put the theory of modern farm management into practice.”