Honorary Fellowships

A Fellow is a person of eminence who has made a significant and distinguished contribution to the industries and professions associated with the work of the Royal Agricultural University.

Fellowships are normally awarded at the annual Graduation ceremony for the award of degrees.

2024

Abi Reader MBE

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. As a result Abi took 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. 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 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.