91Pro

This weekend, New Scientist Live returns to the ExCel Centre in London – and

The University is forming part of the Future of Food and Agriculture exhibit, showcasing some of our latest research, our-cutting edge technology – and offering visitors to our stand the chance to get hands-on as well as to hear about how the latest science is transforming the sectors we serve.

Shows Lead Sarah Swinnerton said: “As the organisers themselves say, agriculture today is immensely hi-tech, with British firms and organisations such as Harper Adams leading the world in sustainability, animal welfare and food quality, and playing a vital part in tackling the challenge of climate change.

“Our stand will be at H30 as part of the wider Farmers Weekly exhibition – and earlier this year, two of our employees spoke with the Farmers Weekly team about their work at the University, how they have applied their STEM studies to fascinating, real-world careers – and some of the cool stuff which they get to do as a result.”

Future Farm Business Development Manager Dr Grace Milburn and Lecturer in Integrated Pest Management Dr Joe Roberts took part in the interviews – watch their videos in full below.

Talking about how her understanding of STEM intersects with her day-to-day work, Grace said: “Being able to explain why things happen is always a very exciting part of our lives.

“Being able to explain why plants look sick, and being able to rectify that and solve that is a hugely satisfying part of our job.

“Being able to improve the welfare of cows, of pigs, of sheep – all the different livestock we have here at Harper – is really quite exciting, and being able to be part of that is hugely satisfying in terms of our purpose and what we actually do.”

 Considering the most unexpected and exciting parts of his job, Joe said: “The most unexpected element of my job is that a lot of people are interested in agriculture but don’t necessarily know it: so if you talk to people in the street, they don’t necessarily think about where their food comes from, but they are worried about things like pesticides.

“You read in the newspapers about pesticides having these negative impacts, but what they don’t really do is connect that with agriculture, and the good work that places like Harper Adams do in terms of developing agriculture so that it is more sustainable.

“The most exciting I think is every day is a different challenge.

“There are lots of different things happening – I have got somewhere between 15 to 20 projects ongoing at any one time, I get to do lots of cool things with lots of nice people, and I just get to be a part of making something good and great – which is UK agriculture.”