Almost thirty final year students studying their BSc (Hons) in Agriculture with Farm Business Management degree at Harper Adams University, were invited to visit one of our long-standing clients in Derbyshire to apply course-learned skills to a real-life rural business. Following their visit, we caught up with Associate Partner, Ian McKenzie to find out how he thought the visit benefitted our business, the students, and the client.
These students are currently studying a variety of modules, including an Applied Farm Business Management case study. Being able to use a real-life scenario with one of our clients provides students with the opportunity to apply a range of analytical skills previously developed in the course to a real-life farm business.
Studying this module is very important to the Agriculture with Farm Business Management course. They must complete an initial review of the business and are then required to prepare a strategic plan for the next five to seven years for the business moving forward.
In this case, they visited Home Farm, located in the Derbyshire Dales, which I have been involved with since 2013. Before the visit, I provided them with physical and financial background information about the farm, which allowed them to formulate a series of questions to ask on the day.
Historically, much of the land on this farm has been tenanted with beef and sheep enterprises, but the decision had been made to develop the business and farm it in hand. This rural business has already successfully diversified, and the focus of the business is primarily agricultural output. The owner plans to have a mixed enterprise system utilising regenerative agricultural practices and including value-added products, this is all very new and involves a significant investment. The owner wants to explore sustainable farming initiatives including organic crop farming and biodiversity net gain. By bringing in the students, they were able to act as advisers and could then prepare a business plan for our client.
The visit aimed to assess the available internal resources of the farm, such as the land and buildings in relation to the owner’s objectives and the physical and financial implications of these for the development of the business. Using these findings, the students were able to recommend the best solutions to problems associated with production, staffing, business strategy and marketing. These solutions will then be used to inform the final strategic plan.
Anna Frick, one of the students visiting from Harper Adams University said: “The visit consisted of a detailed tour of the site where students were able to ask questions, including the previous performance and use of the buildings and land. This enabled us to ask about the market demand, future business opportunities and any challenges being faced by the owner. Being able to speak directly to those involved in the business and understand their objectives in much greater detail, ensuring that any recommendations we made would fit with these.
“Applied modules and assignments, are essential as you develop the skills from classroom-taught theory in your first and second year of the course and apply these to real-life farm businesses. This course prepares you for beyond your studies at Harper Adams, giving you a good insight into agricultural consultancy and farm management roles.”
Ian said: “Visiting a real-life farm allows the students to gain some important skills and understanding. From our perspective meeting these students also provides us with an opportunity to find out more about what they are interested in doing once they graduate. Our graduate scheme offers real client-facing work with roles and responsibilities from day one which enables them to gain experience working with some of our clients to advise and support them during the challenging times they are facing so being able to do this at an early stage gives them a perfect insight into farm management and agribusiness.”
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