Down to the far South West
Duchy College is one of the largest agricultural colleges in the south west. The main agricultural site is Stoke Climsland and it was here I arrived on a beautiful sunny morning, with mist hanging in the valleys.
Robbie Brighton and I gave a talk to about 30 students, comprising agriculture and rural resource management courses, in the impressive new Agrifood centre. Having plenty of time allowed us to go in to considerable depth on the subjects concerned, from the perception of farming as a career to the history of the organic movement.
It’s fair to say that some of the students were not overly knowledgable about organic systems, but all listened intently and nearly everyone contributed to an in-depth and constructive discussion. A worthwhile visit that made some good links.
We then raced down the A30 to Rosewarne for the second Duchy audience of the day - mostly horticultural students. The mood was quite different here (largely sympathetic to organic) helped by the ever enthusiastic Steve Roderick of the Organic Studies Centre. The discussion was vigorous and constructive, with many of the students really engaged with the issues and enthusiastic about the subject areas.
It then just left me to head down to Penzance, on to Land’s End airport for a short hop back over to the Isles of Scilly. It was good to get home after an intense 9 days on the road, but it felt like a very worthwhile time. Now comes the less glamorous work of taking forward the project, but I can now do so with a much clearer vision of future direction.
