Ambitious individuals whose futures are being shaped by the Farming Connect Agri Academy have come together at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair for the 2025 programme finale, when the winners of competitions designed to test their business acumen were revealed.
Earlier this autumn, the Agri Academy members were tasked with formulating ideas for improvements that could make a real-life business more resilient while the Junior Academy cohort addressed the challenges presented by the nature and climate emergencies.
Groups vied for four awards – the Agri Academy Challenge, Agri Academy Members Choice Award, the Junior Academy Challenge and the Junior Academy Members Choice Award.
In the winners’ spotlight at the awards ceremony at Llanelwedd 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 Agri Academy Challenge saw 11 members come up with action plans for a coastal dairy farm in Ceredigion, with their entries judged by Euryn Jones, Chair of the Farming Connect Board, and Agri Academy Director, Anna Bowen.
Euryn says Sophie’s ideas and presentation stood out for several reasons.
“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, who is involved in her family’s dairy and sheep farm near Wrexham, fully grasped the ambitions of the farmer, he adds, and set very realistic goals which made best use of the farm’s human and physical resources.
“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,’’ says Euryn.
For the Junior Academy, the 12 members prepared presentations explaining how they would address challenges of the nature and climate emergencies in the next 10-15 years whilst maintaining food production on their own farm or on the farm where they are employed.
The judges for the Junior Academy Challenge were Rhys Evans, Wales Manager at the Nature Friendly Farming Network, and Dr Non Williams, Carbon Specialist Officer at Farming Connect.
While the issue of tree planting has been a topic of debate in recent years, sometimes causing division between farmers and policy makers, Ellis’ proposal demonstrated how integrating trees into a farming system can enhance production and create new income streams.
His family produce juice from apple trees on their sheep and beef farm at Talybont on Usk, Powys, and the ideas he presented to the judges demonstrated the value of that diversification.
Rhys says Ellis showed it doesn’t have to be a choice between planting a tree or 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.’’
Although it was Ellis’ entry that had the edge, Rhys says all were excellent.
“They were all fantastic, and certainly demonstrated greater knowledge of the issues than I perhaps did at their age.’’
