RAU postgraduate student wins election to the British Wool Board

21 May 2021

Royal Agricultural University (RAU) postgraduate student, Kate Drury has been elected as British Wool’s English Central Region board member.

Kate, a student on the MSc Sustainable Food and Agriculture Policy programme, is delighted to have been elected and is the first woman to join the Board as a producer member in its history.

Kate believes that studying at postgraduate level at RAU has been a contributing factor to her recent success.

Kate says: “I really wanted to be back full time in agriculture after working in other industries. Our family farm already supports three generations and so needed to subsidise my income from ancillary trades or policy.

“The Masters degree had to be blended learning as I already share my time between the Midlands and Yorkshire and I knew, and had complete faith in the RAU after doing my degree there. The title appealed to me as I used to work promoting government policy, a job I loved. On researching the course, I felt it had the right mix of agricultural transition and policy.

“The course although challenging, has lived up to my expectations. The connections and depth of knowledge from very supportive lecturers has exceeded expectation. It was good to find my skills and knowledge gaps, and the course has given me the confidence to run in such a hard-won election.”

Kate‘s family have farmed in the Welland Valley for three generations and in her new role, she is keen to use innovation to tackle some of the present day problems facing British wool.