Farming Connect have announced the winners of a competition designed to test the business acumen of those that have been taking part in their Agri Academy at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair today (24 November). Earlier in the autumn, those takin part in the Junior Academy were set the task of drafting ideas that would get to grips with the challenges that the climate and nature emergency present, while the Agri Academy members were given the challenge of trying to draft a plant that improved the resilience of a business.
There were four individual awards in the competition – the Agri Academy Challenge, Agri Academy Members Choice Award, the Junior Academy Challenge and the Junior Academy Members Choice Award. The winners were Sophie Hughes (Agri Academy Challenge 2025), Huw Thomas (Agri Academy Members Choice Award 2025), and Ellis Morgan (Junior Academy Challenge 2025 and Junior Academy Members Choice Award 2025).
The 11 candidates for the Agri Academy Challenge needed to draft an action plan for a coastal farm in Ceredigion. The judges were Chair of the Farming Connect Board, Euryn Jones and Anna Bowen the Agri Academy Director. In a statement Euryn Jones said:
“Sophie showed a very good understanding of the farm’s current system and benchmarked its performance very professionally with industry standards and published information.’’
Sophie Hughes’s plan recognised the ambitions of the project’s farmer and her bid managed to set realistic targets which made the best use of the farm’s resources. Euryn Jones said:
“She fully considered the financial implications and drew up budgets with an understanding of the wider industry while capitalising on the coastal location of the farm.’’
The 12 candidates for the Junior Academy competition needed to prepare presentations showing how they would get to grips with challenges tied to the nature and climate emergencies over the next 10 to 15 years and consider the process of producing food on their farms or farms that they are employed by.
The judges for the Junior Academy Challenge were Wales Manager at the Nature Friendly Farming Network, Rhys Evans, Carbon Specialist Officer at Farming Connect, Dr Non Williams.
Rhys Evans said that the winner, Ellis Morgan, had demonstrated that there wasn’t necessarily the need to choose between planting trees and producing food:
“If more people grasped that nuance and listened to what Ellis has to say, the discussion about trees would be much healthier.
He demonstrated that it is possible to make a profit out of trees while also locking up carbon and providing those animal welfare benefits like shade and shelter.’’
He also praised the other candidates:
“They were all fantastic, and certainly demonstrated greater knowledge of the issues than I perhaps did at their age.’’
You can learn more about the Agri Academy on the Farming Connect Website.
