Abbey Stokes says taking Agriculture at St Andrew’s felt like a natural step after coming from a strong family farming background and growing up on a deer farm in Springfield.

Today she is putting the skills she learnt in the subject to good use, as part of the Ministry for Primary Industries Graduate Development Programme, where she does six-month rotations through three different teams.

Abbey is currently working in the Plant Exports team, which collaborates with industry to increase market access for horticulture products and deal with any issues that arise at overseas borders.

Abbey says the broad range of topics covered in Agriculture at St Andrew’s helped her to see the many different career opportunities in the sector. Gathering accurate information from a wide range of sources, and interpreting and communicating this information were skills central to the Agriculture curriculum, which have served Abbey well at university and in the workplace, she says.

Abbey singles out Head of Agriculture, Natasha Cloughley, for believing in her and going above and beyond to help grow her academic skills and confidence.

She enjoys working in the horticulture space, and would love to explore future career opportunities in this area.