Farmers and agri-business people invited to apply for €10k bursary

PROGRESSIVE farmers and agri-business professionals are invited to apply for a €10,000 overseas study scholarship.

Under the 2011 Nuffield Farming Scholarship awards, the four selected applicants will each be awarded a travel bursary of €10,000 to study their proposed farming and/or agri-business in the foreign culture of their choice.

This unique opportunity is expected to attract a considerable volume of interest.

The objective of the Irish Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust (NFST) is to identify future leaders of Irish agriculture and facilitate their quest to bring about meaningful change for the benefit of their community.

The four winners will receive initial training from prior Nuffield scholars from around the world.

They will then travel to research their topic of choice, and will be expected to prepare a comprehensive report, to be presented to the Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust in Britain, as well as various other Irish and international agricultural forums.

NFST chairman, Derek McCabe, said: “As a Nuffield scholar myself, I would heartily encourage farmers and agri-business employees to go for it and apply. A Nuffield scholarship is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel, make firm friendships, discover cultures and how the business of agriculture is run the world over, and return personally enriched for the benefit of one’s community.”

The NFST scholarships are sponsored by the IFA, the Irish Farmers’ Journal, FBD, ICOS and the Peter Daly Trust.

For an application form, email [e-mail]. Return completed applications by December 3, to the Nuffield Farming Scholarship Trust, C/O Catherine Lascurettes, Irish Farm Centre, Bluebell, Dublin 12.