Welsh dairy farmer named as first ever RAU Alumnus of the Year

4 October 2024

A dairy farmer from Wales who has previously been named as Wales Woman Farmer of the Year and has received an MBE for services to farming, has been awarded the Royal Agricultural University’s (RAU) inaugural Alumnus of the Year award.

Abi Reader, who is now Deputy President of NFU Cymru, studied for a BSc in Agriculture at what was then the Royal Agricultural College (RAC), graduating in 2003. She then stayed on to complete an MBA in Farm Business Management.

Although home was a farm in the Vale of Glamorgan, Abi went to secondary school in the middle of inner-city Cardiff and admitted that, when she left school, she had no idea what she wanted to do.

“I had always worked on the farm but my parents didn’t want to push me to take on the farm and I had never really considered it as a possible career for me,” she said.

“Farming just wasn’t on the radar of the careers advisers at school and it wasn’t really seen as a viable career for girls. We were meant to be solicitors, dentists, doctors – definitely not farmers!”

Given this, Abi, now 43, decided to take a gap year after her A-levels during which a friend of hers suggested she call the RAC to see if there was an agriculture course she could sign up to.

“Applying to the RAC was the only application I did but it turned out to be the best thing I ever did! From the moment I arrived on campus - pretty much the minute I got out of the car - I found out who I was. I knew this was where I wanted to be,” she said.

Abi was the top student of her year for two of the three years of her degree and, at her Graduation, she was awarded the prize for the Most Prospective Farm Manager

When she finally left the RAC in 2005, Abi headed home to work with her father on the family’s 900-acre Goldsland Farm where she now manages a herd of 200 Holstein Friesian and Dairy Shorthorns alongside 150 acres of arable land and around 100 sheep.

As well as using what she learnt at the RAC to change and improve things on the farm, Abi has also recently introduced new agroforestry and horticulture trials on her farm.

She said: “The agroforestry trial is really interesting and is not only an opportunity for carbon sequestration and diversity but also a business opportunity. The horticulture trial is looking at how to create more jobs by using less space.

“I could not have done any of this, or have been able to achieve any of the things I have, without the foundations I have from my studies at the RAC. I use the knowledge from there every single day – it is the bedrock of how I progress.”

Presenting Abi for the RAU Alumnus of the Year award at the University’s 2024 Graduation ceremony, which took place at the University’s Cirencester campus, RAU Chair of Governors Dame Fiona Reynolds said: “Abi is a persuasive and articulate voice for farmers, but she has a mind of her own, driven by a deep passion for the future of farming.

“She is through and through a generous, committed advocate not only for farming now but for building a sustainable future. Who, I ask, could be better to be our Alumnus of the Year?”

Receiving her award from RAU Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter McCaffery at the Graduation ceremony, Abi said: “My spirit and passion for farming was born at the RAU. To be given an award from such a prestigious institution for doing something you love is an enormous joy and honour.

“Huge congratulations to everyone who has graduated this year. There are many challenges ahead of us but there are also many exceptional people, like those of you here today, ready to hit these challenges head on.”