Are you ready for a new challenge, to be who you want to be? It’s time to apply for this year’s Agri Academy!

Are you ready for a challenge? A challenge that could help you achieve your personal ambitions, create new professional development opportunities and give you the confidence to aim high, to believe in yourself and what you can achieve?

“If you are ambitious, keen to develop more business acumen and achieve your potential as an individual, we want you to apply for this year’s Agri Academy programme,” says Einir Davies, development and mentoring manager with Menter a Busnes, which alongside Lantra Wales, delivers Farming Connect on behalf of the Welsh Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

The application window for this year’s Agri Academy will open from Monday, 7 June until Wednesday, 30 June. Interviews for shortlisted applicants will take place virtually during the week commencing Monday, 5 July. With two distinct programmes, the Business & Innovation programme is aimed at supporting and inspiring the next generation of farming and forestry innovators and fostering entrepreneurship, while the Junior programme, a joint collaboration with Wales YFC, will support young people (16-19 years) who hope to follow a career in the food, farming or land management industries.

“For many of the 260 individuals all living, working or studying in rural Wales, who have in the last eight years, been through the ranks of the Agri Academy, the experience proved life-changing.

“The Academy’s unique formula of providing mentoring, training, study visits and networking, all centred around three short but intensive study periods, has given them new skills, new contacts and friends, a new sense of confidence and for many, an all-important extra notch on their cv,” says Ms. Davies.

Because of Covid 19 which has impacted on arranging overseas study visits in advance, this year’s Academy candidates’ will be combining online ‘meet and greets’ and sector-specific webinars with visits to different parts of the UK, but Ms Davies says this brings its own benefits.

“During the height of the pandemic last summer, it was apparent that there is a ready audience of individuals delighted to join online webinars, which means of course that we can widen our speaker and mentor bookings to include experts from almost anywhere in the world that has WIFI.

“So, no fact-finding missions in Europe this year, but a speaker line-up that might take you much further afield,” says Ms. Davies.

All arrangements for this year’s programme will adhere strictly to any Covid-19 travel and social distancing restrictions which may be in place.

For further information on the Agri Academy 2021 programme and to download application forms, visit gov.wales/farmingconnect