Nicola Blowey, a young farmer from Tavistock and third year BSc Agriculture student at Harper Adams University, is heading to Canada for an educational trip of a lifetime this summer. She was awarded, after an application and interview process, a National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs Discovery trip. It is a four week exchange in August with a member of 4H, a similar organisation to YFC, from Manitoba who will also visit Nicola for a week in July.

“The trip is an excellent opportunity to learn about agriculture in another country and also to meet other young farmers in another part of the world and hear about their organisations and activities. I will be visiting local farms and businesses, whilst my exchange partner herself lives on a 3,000-acre arable farm.”

Nicola has decided to extend the trip to around nine weeks so she can visit Vancouver, Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto as well as several farms in Ontario to experience the varying cultures and see the different agricultural practices in the provinces.

“People have been really generous and I have been able to find three hosts in Ontario and will be staying with a member of JFAO, another similar organisation to YFC, which will allow me to compare the two Canadian organisations.” Nicola will also attend the Outdoor Farm Show, Canada’s largest agricultural show and visit the Ontario Agricultural College, where she will be staying with a researcher involved with SEMEX’s Immunity+ range.

Nicola will also participate in a day of on-farm HIR (High Immune Response) testing to witness the data collection happening in industry. She will also tour the vet school, meet the team and learn about the research undertaken in the lab, and hopefully visit the SEMEX EastGen Dairy Stud.

Nicola would like to thank Kite Consulting and Hodgsons accountancy firm, Launceston, for their extremely kind sponsorship and support and is in contact with other local businesses.

“It is really encouraging to know that others appreciate and support the efforts I am making to expand my horizons, learn about global agriculture and further my future career,” she said.