Gloucestershire poultry specialist Harriet Smith, who is already putting her experience to help egg producers across the West Country, has been awarded a £2,000 training grant and named the winner of the 2020 Zoetis-NFU Poultry Trainee Award.
The other finalists were all from the broiler sector – Kane Burchell of Hook2Sisters in Gunness, Emily Grove of Avara Foods in Herefordshire, and Laura Harrison of Hook2Sisters in Scotland. All the finalists will receive an ‘at home’ fine dining experience and £100 vouchers to help further their learning.
Harriet Smith who lives at Eastington, near Stonehouse, is a poultry specialist with Crediton Milling Co in Devon. In her entry, she said: “I would like to see supermarkets supporting their suppliers more and promoting the amazing work our farmers do – not making life harder for them.
“Farmers know how to produce good quality food and the supermarkets know how to market their produce. If the industry were to work closer together, the public would be more educated on where their food comes from and how it is produced.”
She is contributing to this with an enterprising Instagram account – follow her on @the_poultry_diaries – which portrays the day in the life of a poultry enthusiast passionate about agriculture and supporting British poultry producers.
One of the judging panel, James Porritt, Zoetis pig and poultry manager, said: “I was particularly impressed with the way Harriet thrives on adding value to her customers through her current role and also her drive to engage the whole team at Crediton Milling which inevitably benefits the customers too.”
NFU poultry adviser Tom Glen said: “Harriet’s ambition to progress in the industry, combined with that knowledge and passion, will make her a great ambassador for encouraging more young people to embark on a career in poultry.”