DairyCo

Applicants invited for Trehane Trust Nuffield Scholarship

Published 20 October 11

The Trehane Trust is inviting applicants for its 2012 awards and is encouraging all those, aged between 25 and 45 and with an interest in any part of the dairy chain, to apply. Applications have to be in by November 15, 2011.

Under the umbrella of the Nuffield Farming Scholarship programme, the Trehane Trust offers study travel awards each year. To be successful applicants have to submit a topic related to the dairy industry that they would like to study and that, through their improved knowledge and experience, would contribute to the UK dairy industry.

Recent scholars have looked at subjects as diverse as dairy farm equity, family farm succession, the relationship between cow comfort, nutrition and performance, generic marketing of milk and consumer attitudes to milk.

Each Scholar is provided with travel and subsistence costs and is expected to commit eight weeks to the study which might be in one block or smaller blocks. They then have to present their findings and conclusions in a written report and presentations, including the Nuffield Farming Conference and the Trehane Dinner.

"We want applicants from all sectors of the dairy industry," says Trehane Trust Secretary Simon Bates. "Consumer trends, dairy product processing and packaging as well as environmental issues and milk production on farm are all possible areas for study. Our awards are for development of knowledge in the dairy sector in the widest sense."

The closing date for entries for Trehane Trust awards is November 15, 2011. Application forms and past reports can be downloaded from www.nuffieldscholar.org.

Tesco's dairy agricultural manager Emma Jones, Trehane Scholar in 2005, studied the generic marketing of milk in California USA,  New Zealand, Australia, France, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

"It was enlightening for me and for the dairy industry here in the UK to see how a number of countries were tackling these challenges and it became clear that the generic message to consumers must be clear, easily understood and has a positive impact on dairy product consumption," says Emma.  

"My study highlighted that the environment, nutrition and welfare are global challenges and that consumers are increasingly concerned about food miles with an escalating awareness of provenance. This gave me confidence in our industry as here, in the UK, we have a good story to tell."

Scholar, dairy farmer Rhys Williams from north Wales, looked at farm business structures that encourage expansion and rapid wealth creation in low input grass based systems in Ireland, USA, Chile, Uruguay, New Zealand and France.

"The Trehane award gave me a broader outlook, pushing the more comfortable, rigid thinking to one side. The overall core message was that the main difference between farms in all these countries - and in the UK - is the people and how they are managed. On my return it became apparent to me that the UK can be a fantastic place for low cost milk production. The opportunities in the UK at present are limitless.

Just this year scholar Kevin Beaty from Cumbria completed his study into consumer attitudes to milk in the USA, China, Australia, NZ and India. He saw how vulnerable the image of milk can be and how in other countries its image needs modernising.

"Overall though I could see that the UK dairy industry is one of the best in the world technically and from an environmental perspective we are well ahead of the game compared with others. It gave me confidence in the UK dairy industry - to invest time and money in for the future."                            

More information on the Trehane awards is available from Simon Bates, sbates@dairyuk.org,  0207 467 2648 or John Stones, Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust,  nuffielddirector@aol.com, 01858 555544.