Mulgrave Estate, near Whitby, hosts 'outstanding' visit for farming students

Students spent a fact-finding day on the 15,000-acre estate, focussing on the relationship between agriculture, conservation and environmental management.

The day was organised by the Mulgrave Estate, with support from UK property consultants Savills and Frontier Agriculture.

Robert Childerhouse, Estate Director, said the day had been a tremendous success, providing the students with some extremely valuable hands-on experience, while Simon Parker, lecturer at Newcastle University said the visit was outstanding due to the variety and level of engagement offered by the contributors.

Mr Childerhouse said: “We also looked at current agricultural affairs, including reducing subsidies, the fertilizer and grain markets and rural funding in the future.

"If the students make their careers in the rural and agricultural sectors, which I expect many of them will, then these issues will be key.

“It was tremendous to be able to call upon the experience of experts from Savills and Frontier Agriculture, as well as our own staff.

"We were also delighted to be able to take the students to Wilks Farm at Lealholm, which is one of our largest tenanted farms where Jonathan Hutchinson gave a detailed tour of his 500-cow dairy.

“The feedback we received was extremely positive. It was a most worthwhile day.”

Students present represented a range of geographic origins, being from the UK, Malaysia, China, Lithuania and Dubai, creating opportunity for a diverse and engaging debate that has local, national and global importance.