From a suckler beef farm in Hillsborough, Co Down, Emma Nelson says she was “always farming mad”. Her passion for agriculture oozes as she talks about life at home and her role as agri development officer with red meat processor Dunbia.
In February of this year, Emma travelled to New Zealand with 11 others through the Louise Hartley Scholarship Fund. Louise passed away at the age of 24 after a short battle with a rare ovarian cancer and the programme was established in memory of the Farmers Guardian journalist. The scholarship gives individuals from the UK an opportunity to develop their skills and progress in the farming industry.
Emma’s upbringing has given her an understanding of the delicacy of farming and through personal and professional involvement, she is helping to shape the future of agriculture.
“At home we focus on Angus and Limousin cattle, this year we bought in a Charolais bull to put to them. We focus on a tight calving pattern and daily liveweight gains, getting the most out of them and then selling them as weanlings.
“Growing up on a farm gives you an appreciation for what you have whether it be food on the table or a summer holiday, because there is such volatility in farming. One year you could have a class year and you’re able to go on holiday and the next year you might not be able to.”
Dunbia
“I studied agriculture technology (in conjunction with CAFRE and Queen’s University) and did a short placement with Dunbia. On the night of my graduation I thought about my future. I had got my job secured with Dunbia, but I had applied to do a masters, so I’m doing a masters part-time through Queens in business for agri food and rural enterprise.
“My role with Dunbia is split 40:60 between commercial accounts and research and development. I manage the account with supermarket chain Co-op who we supply with beef and lamb all year round.
“The other 60% of my time is put to research and development, working with different universities, research bodies and companies in the industry, encouraging productivity on farm, obviously focusing on beef and lamb. This work mostly relates to actual production levels on farm and how that can become more efficient and basically make our supply into the factory more sustainable, and it’s beneficial for the farmer at the other end.
“I connect the entire supply chain from the farmer right through to the retailer who is putting that on the shelf. We’re looking at consumer trends and also making the farmer realise that he/she is not just producing beef or lamb, they are actually producing a product that has to go on the shelf and that consumers will want to buy.”
Emma Nelson (right) pictured at the Irish Farmers Journal Spring Conference, Armagh with Anna Blakey Dunbia and Noel McNeill LMC.\ Peter Houston.
FaceTime a Farmer
“Dunbia is doing work educating young people, it is outstanding how little young children know about where their food comes from. There is an initiative called “FaceTime a Farmer” which was founded by British farmer Tom Martin and is rolled our nationally by LEAF. It’s a room full of kids on FaceTime with a farmer who will be out on the farm showing them his chicken house or beef cattle.
“I have quite close links with the primary school that I went to and last year they were doing the history of the Massey Ferguson. The vice principal rang me and said, ‘Emma could you bring your tractor in so the children can see what a three-point linkage is?’ So I brought the tractor with the cattle trailer on and my two pigs in the back of it, the kids loved it.
“It’s the education piece that we need to get back into cities. It’s OK doing it where I live because you can see cows and sheep, but whenever you go into cities they have no idea, they are so far removed from where their food comes from.”
New Zealand
“I travelled to New Zealand with the Louise Hartley Scholarship, it was founded last year in conjunction with the Farmers Guardian and JCB. They chose New Zealand because they went through the loss of subsidies overnight in the 1980s.
“We were looking at how they managed that change. A key thing was their business attitude; here we would be quite emotional with farming, you would be giving a cow a second chance because she’s your favourite, whereas they will have a no-nonsense approach and it was down to the last penny that they were costing everything out.
“We were away for three and a half weeks and explored every sector of agriculture that New Zealand had, whether that be beef, dairy, mussels or deer.
“There is a lot of diversification in New Zealand and they’re exploiting that to their full potential. One dairy farmer was pasturising his own milk and branding that, telling his story. New Zealand are very good at telling their story and they paint a really good picture.
“That is something that we have the potential to do here but we are a bit more pessimistic and we’re not willing to push and drive the thing that we do. That resonated with me because if you have a niche product and can market it to the best of your ability, and if it is something that consumers are really going to buy into, you can have a really successful business.” CL
To find out more about the FaceTime a Farmer initiative visit www.leafuk.org/facetimeafarmer.
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From a suckler beef farm in Hillsborough, Co Down, Emma Nelson says she was “always farming mad”. Her passion for agriculture oozes as she talks about life at home and her role as agri development officer with red meat processor Dunbia.
In February of this year, Emma travelled to New Zealand with 11 others through the Louise Hartley Scholarship Fund. Louise passed away at the age of 24 after a short battle with a rare ovarian cancer and the programme was established in memory of the Farmers Guardian journalist. The scholarship gives individuals from the UK an opportunity to develop their skills and progress in the farming industry.
Emma’s upbringing has given her an understanding of the delicacy of farming and through personal and professional involvement, she is helping to shape the future of agriculture.
“At home we focus on Angus and Limousin cattle, this year we bought in a Charolais bull to put to them. We focus on a tight calving pattern and daily liveweight gains, getting the most out of them and then selling them as weanlings.
“Growing up on a farm gives you an appreciation for what you have whether it be food on the table or a summer holiday, because there is such volatility in farming. One year you could have a class year and you’re able to go on holiday and the next year you might not be able to.”
Dunbia
“I studied agriculture technology (in conjunction with CAFRE and Queen’s University) and did a short placement with Dunbia. On the night of my graduation I thought about my future. I had got my job secured with Dunbia, but I had applied to do a masters, so I’m doing a masters part-time through Queens in business for agri food and rural enterprise.
“My role with Dunbia is split 40:60 between commercial accounts and research and development. I manage the account with supermarket chain Co-op who we supply with beef and lamb all year round.
“The other 60% of my time is put to research and development, working with different universities, research bodies and companies in the industry, encouraging productivity on farm, obviously focusing on beef and lamb. This work mostly relates to actual production levels on farm and how that can become more efficient and basically make our supply into the factory more sustainable, and it’s beneficial for the farmer at the other end.
“I connect the entire supply chain from the farmer right through to the retailer who is putting that on the shelf. We’re looking at consumer trends and also making the farmer realise that he/she is not just producing beef or lamb, they are actually producing a product that has to go on the shelf and that consumers will want to buy.”
Emma Nelson (right) pictured at the Irish Farmers Journal Spring Conference, Armagh with Anna Blakey Dunbia and Noel McNeill LMC.\ Peter Houston.
FaceTime a Farmer
“Dunbia is doing work educating young people, it is outstanding how little young children know about where their food comes from. There is an initiative called “FaceTime a Farmer” which was founded by British farmer Tom Martin and is rolled our nationally by LEAF. It’s a room full of kids on FaceTime with a farmer who will be out on the farm showing them his chicken house or beef cattle.
“I have quite close links with the primary school that I went to and last year they were doing the history of the Massey Ferguson. The vice principal rang me and said, ‘Emma could you bring your tractor in so the children can see what a three-point linkage is?’ So I brought the tractor with the cattle trailer on and my two pigs in the back of it, the kids loved it.
“It’s the education piece that we need to get back into cities. It’s OK doing it where I live because you can see cows and sheep, but whenever you go into cities they have no idea, they are so far removed from where their food comes from.”
New Zealand
“I travelled to New Zealand with the Louise Hartley Scholarship, it was founded last year in conjunction with the Farmers Guardian and JCB. They chose New Zealand because they went through the loss of subsidies overnight in the 1980s.
“We were looking at how they managed that change. A key thing was their business attitude; here we would be quite emotional with farming, you would be giving a cow a second chance because she’s your favourite, whereas they will have a no-nonsense approach and it was down to the last penny that they were costing everything out.
“We were away for three and a half weeks and explored every sector of agriculture that New Zealand had, whether that be beef, dairy, mussels or deer.
“There is a lot of diversification in New Zealand and they’re exploiting that to their full potential. One dairy farmer was pasturising his own milk and branding that, telling his story. New Zealand are very good at telling their story and they paint a really good picture.
“That is something that we have the potential to do here but we are a bit more pessimistic and we’re not willing to push and drive the thing that we do. That resonated with me because if you have a niche product and can market it to the best of your ability, and if it is something that consumers are really going to buy into, you can have a really successful business.” CL
To find out more about the FaceTime a Farmer initiative visit www.leafuk.org/facetimeafarmer.
Read more
'Running keeps you fit physically and mentally for farming'
Sharing is caring with social farming
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