Farmers and those employed in the food, agriculture and rural industries in the UK are urged not to miss out on the opportunity to apply for a 2020 Nuffield Farming Scholarship.

The closing date for applications is 31 July and there is no need for formal qualifications in order to apply.

The Trust looks to unlock an individual’s potential and broaden horizons through study and travel overseas. Scholars are selected with a view to developing tomorrow’s leaders within their individual business and the industry as a whole.

Approximately 20 scholarships are awarded annually in the UK to young people between the ages of 22 and 45 from across the agricultural industry.

Wiltshire dairy farmer David Helliar won a scholarship back in 2011.

He said: “Since my return from college we’d grown the unit at home from 200 to 400 cows and were looking at expanding further but I felt that my education had simply not prepared me for managing a growing, developing business, and the new skills that involved.

"To put it bluntly I felt like I was winging it, rather than having a plan in place. I was having to manage staff, run the office, be involved in the day-to-day running of the farm, as well as trying to give some thought to the direction we were heading. It simply wasn’t working.

“After talking to some local scholars and looking into it, I decided to apply for a Scholarship so that I could go and talk directly to the people who had hands-on experience of managing large scale dairy herds. I wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth. Nothing compares to visiting these farmers and experts in person, walking with them round the farm and sitting around their kitchen table.

“Believe it or not I’d never even heard of HR before I embarked on my Nuffield, but my study has helped me put people management at the heart of the business. I learnt that becoming an employer of choice, and the strong staff team it provides, was one of the keys to growing the business in the right way. The cows themselves are pretty forgiving but when it comes to staff management, make mistakes and some of your best assets walk away.”

“My Nuffield has given me the confidence to expand the herd to 700 cows today, but I also learnt that every business has its ‘sweet spot’, that place that everything just clicks and the business works. It means that expansion might not be right for some businesses. Seeing businesses that used outside governance also encouraged me to do the same here. We have external consultants helping us set the direction of the business to help us reach both the strategic and personal goals.”

Applications can be made on the Nuffield Farming Scholarships Trust website at apply.nuffieldscholar.org.