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Dalehead Foods sponsors four Harper students

Posted 1 March 2014

Four young women are being supported by Dalehead Foods through º¬Ðß²ÝÉçÇø scholarships. 

Farmer’s daughter Jodie Roberts, 19 from Newtown, Wales, is a new recipient of the Dalehead Foods Farmer Support Scholarship, which offers £3,800 towards tuition fees plus a paid work placement for the scholar’s year in industry. 

Jodie, a second year BSc (Hons) Agri-Business student, and former Coleg-Powys pupil, said: “I knew of Dalehead foods and was already interested in the company, so when the opportunity to become a Dalehead scholar arose, I had to apply. 

“It means so much being given the chance to work within a company which I aspire to work for in future. I would like to thank Dalehead so very much for this opportunity which could potentially create the path for my future.

“I want to work within agriculture and want to help improve consumer confidence and perceptions of farming and where food comes from. Because farmers are so hard-working, I believe it is important for a consumer to appreciate agriculture.”

Fellow second-year, Jess Pemberton, from Stowmarket, Suffolk, is working towards a BSc (Hons) Agriculture and Animal Science degree at Harper Adams. She was awarded the Dalehead Foods Technical scholarship, which again includes financial support plus a paid work placement, which Jess will undertake during the next academic year.

She said: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to enable me to gain hands-on experience in the pig industry; to work in such a highly-respected company is a great privilege. I would like to thank Dalehead Foods for offering me this placement, and I am looking forward to becoming one of their team in July.

“I will help run trials on pig welfare, nutrition, genetics, environmental and general pig production techniques. The trials enable the company to stay at the high end of the industry,” added Jess, also an active Young Farmer and a hobby sheep farmer. Jess has her own small breeding flock at the home farm and sells the meat locally. 

Rosa Malseed, 21, from Newton Abbot, Devon, is a final year Dalehead scholar, studying agriculture with animal science. Rosa said: “I am very grateful for the scholarship. It means I can afford to expand my knowledge of the industry by attending conferences and study tours. This spring, I am off the Netherlands to visit leading research farms on ruminant and swine nutrition. 

“Last year, I was on placement with the Lamb Procurement team at Dalehead Foods in Pembrokeshire. Dalehead Foods is a division of Tulip, and solely supply Waitrose with all their pork, bacon and lamb. I worked closely with the Lamb Procurement Manager and I also had many of my own projects to undertake. I was made very welcome from the start, and being part of a small team I had the opportunity to get involved in most things going on. 

“I spent time out on farm meeting producers, I visited the abattoirs and as part of one of my projects worked in the factory yielding lambs and met the entire Meat Buying Team at Waitrose on many occasions. I gained valuable experience and learnt new skills which will benefit me in the short term and in the longer term with my career.”

Final year student Imogen Radford, 23, from Barton, Cambridge, was awarded the scholarship in the second year of her BSc (Hons) Agriculture course at º¬Ðß²ÝÉçÇø, and worked for Dalehead Foods in her third year.

Now she is back at Harper Adams to complete the fourth and final year of her course. Imogen said: “The scholarship funding was an added bonus to a fantastic placement year! I will be starting a graduate job in Suffolk at Dalehead Foods in July. 

“On placement, I worked within the finishing pig fieldsman team, where I learnt on-farm breeding and growing practical skills. I also had the opportunity to work further within the integrated supply chain at the dedicated abattoir and processing plants. I really enjoyed meeting the farmers supplying BQP and building good working relationships and contacts within the industry.

“Since starting at Harper Adams I have wanted to work towards becoming a farm consultant, I take great interest in improving businesses and diversification.”