Agricultural Society - Newcastle University · 2017-10-19 · 3 Secretary’s Report This edition of the journal is packed with Society and School news. In 2016 we were very saddened

(ISSN 0267-8640)

The Journal of the

University of Newcastle upon Tyne

Agricultural

Society www.ncl.ac.uk/afrd/alumni/unas/

Volume 38 (2017)

(Price to non-members £10)

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Contents

Secretary’s Report 3

Update from Head of School 5

Welcome New Staff! 6

Celebrating 125 years of Agriculture at Newcastle 8

UNAS at Events 2016 9

UNAS at Events 2017 10

Junior Society Report 11

Postgraduate Conference Reports

Effects of Coccidia Infection on Broiler Genotypes Divergently

Selected for Performance Traits

Idiegberanoise Oikeh, Panagiotis Sakkas, Damer Blake, Ilias

Kyriazakis

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Replacing soybean cake with insect meal in layers. Can we make an

added-value, more nutritious egg?

Eleni Chatzidimitriou, Gillian Butler

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AGM Minutes 2014 33

AGM Minutes 2015 39

UNAS Accounts 2015 43

Society Overview 45

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Secretary’s Report

This edition of the journal is packed with Society and School news. In 2016 we were very

saddened by the loss of two current and one recent student. Following the loss of Robert

(Swede) Stephenson in early 2016 it has been truly wonderful how the agricultural

community, family friends and the ‘Newcastle Agrics’ have come together to remember him

in the form of the Rob Stephenson Trust. This has taken the form of a number of fundraising

events including the ‘Three Peaks Challenge’, ‘Top to Toe’ bike ride from Land’s End to John

O’ Groats, the Great North Run and the Malton & Norton vs Newcastle Agrics rugby match

(this year’s match takes place on April 30th 2017 at Malton & Norton RUFC). A special thanks

to Tomos Davis who, four days after completing the ‘Top to Toe’ Challenge completed the

Great North Run with 21 Swedes on his back – one for every year of Rob’s life. The Trust was

set up to help those who were not as privileged as Rob in being able to access sport and

education and has now raised a total in excess of £80,000 as well as a multitude of sports

equipment/clothes which is being distributed to different parts of the globe.

We would also like to remember Louise Hartley who lost her life on the 1st of July 2016

following a short illness. Louise graduated in 2013 (B.Sc. Agriculture Hons in Animal

Production Science) and from then had developed an outstanding reputation in journalism as

a livestock reporter for Farmers Guardian.

In December 2016 we also had the sad loss of Ed Farmer (1st year Economics student) who was a member of the Junior Agric Society and played rugby for the Agrics.

At theAGM in November 2016, it was agreed that UNAS would donate £15 towards the Rob

Stephenson Trust for every new member that joins the Senior Society (UNAS) before the end

of 2017. So please, calling on all those non-members, please join UNAS and support a

worthy cause. To join the Society, complete the UNAS membership form. It can be

returned, along with a completed standing order mandate by email or post.

The ‘Three Peaks Challenge’ Newcastle Agrics after completing the Great North Run for the

Rob Stephenson Trust

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We are delighted to welcome the following new committee members: Ben Allison-Hughes,

Harry Huddart and David Lawrie as this brings new blood and ideas into the Senior Society.

Ben and David were both Chairman of the Junior Agric Society and this will help us look at

how the Senior and Junior Societies can work more closely together in the future.

The Society is in a healthy position in terms of its finances and so we are pleased once again

to have been able to provide financial assistance to help undergraduate and postgraduate

students in their studies. In 2016 a total funding allocation of £1550 was provided.

Eleni Chatzidimitriou received £200 to present a paper ‘The effect of insect meal on egg fatty

acid profile’ at the European Federation of Animal production conference at Queens

University, Belfast.

Idiegberanoise Oikeh received £300 to present a poster ‘Effects of coccidian infection on

broiler genotypes divergently selected for performance traits’ at the 25th World Poultry

Congress in Sept Beijing, China.

Olabanji Obasami was awarded £250 towards the cost of his M.Sc. research project ‘An

assessment of the potential for sweet sorghum as a biofuel crop in Niger Republic and the

implications on food security’.

Undergraduate awards (£100 per student) were provided for four final year students (Kitty

Gash-Wales, Rebecca Gray, Toni Hockridge and Annika Simpson) to present at the British

Society of Animal Science conference.

In addition £400 was provided for a team of four Agri-Business Management students to

attend the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IAMA meeting)

held in Aarhus, Denmark.

Copies of the presentations from Eleni and Idiegberanoise both appear later in this Journal.

As always, please email any news or articles that you think may be of interest to your fellow

readers to us at [email protected].

Paul Bilsborrow

UNAS Hon. Secretary

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Update from Rob Edwards Head of School, Agriculture, Food and Rural Development

(AFRD)

March 2017

The past year has seen a number of very positive developments across the school, both in

the area of agriculture and food and also in the rural social science research carried out in

the Centre for Rural Economy. We have made significant new appointments, including

several new chairs.

We are investing in our Agri research facilities in significant areas of precision agriculture

and digital animal welfare. The work on livestock is mainly focused around the C-DIAL

(Centre for Digital Technologies Applied to Livestock) project at Cockle Park Farm, an

important development investigating locomotion and its relationship to animal welfare and

health.

In the vital area of crop health and protection we have invested in four new mobile

laboratories that will allow researchers to conduct experiments in the field, perform

sophisticated sample preparation and diagnostic testing and work more closely with farmers

and other land professionals. They also give us the potential to produce results more

quickly and often on site.

Other recent investments at Cockle Park include a new research laboratory, the industrial

scale glasshouse and seminar and meeting facilities. A new research reception centre will

also ensure that visitors are properly welcomed to the facility. Together, Cockle Park and

Nafferton farms are being developed into a farm-based campus that will provide the 21st

century research and training facilities for our students that the modern agricultural

industry demands.

As we move into a new academic year in October, it will be as part of a larger school within

our faculty, one that brings agriculture together with a much wider range of sciences,

including biology, chemistry and marine sciences. This feels increasingly appropriate as the

industry has needs that call upon all of these fields of research. Producing our food is an

increasingly demanding and interdisciplinary global challenge that will require expertise

from all the sciences. Bringing researchers together into a single school promises to help us

address that challenge much more effectively.

Rob keeps a regular blog at robedwardsafrd.wordpress.com/

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Welcome New Staff!

Professor Sally Shortall

Duke of Northumberland Professor of Rural Economy

Professor Sally Shortall is the Duke of Northumberland

Chair of Rural Economy. Her main research interests are

the role of women on farms and in rural development,

rural development policy, social changes in farming

practice and the links between evidence and policy.

Sally is currently president of the European Society for Rural Sociology and First Vice-

President of the International Rural Sociology Association. She has worked with the

European Parliament, the European Commission and the Food and Agricultural

Organisation. She is presently Principal Investigator (PI) conducting research funded by the

Scottish Government on women in agriculture in Scotland with colleagues from the James

Hutton Institute. She is also PI on an ESRC funded project which explores and addresses the

regional impacts in Northern Ireland of the global energy-climate-food security nexus. The

focus is primarily on global energy availability and climate change and their impacts on

regional food security; and is working with colleagues in the Agri-Food and Biosciences

Institute in Belfast on research to establish how best to implement rural proofing measures,

and to identify best practice and barriers to best practice.

Dr Ankush Prashar

Lecturer in Crop Science

Ankush Prashar’s education and career thus far has been focussed

on genetics and breeding for plant stress related traits. He

graduated from the Punjab Agricultural University with a BSc in

Agriculture, completed an MSc in Applied Genetics and PhD in

Quantitative genetics and functional genomics from University of

Birmingham. As postdoctoral fellow at Cardiff University he tried to

understand genetics of optical traits in Avian model and use

imaging resources to understand structural parameters of hens. As a Geneticist at The

James Hutton Institute, he was involved in developing tools and techniques for high

throughput phenotyping and associating these with high throughput genotyping.

His current research at Newcastle University aims is to understand the adaptive responses

to crop stress and build on his previous expertise of developing high throughput technology

and methodology for phenotyping by integrating different imaging sensors. The aim targets

to bridge the gap between genetics and physiology and understand the genetic control for

plant stress.

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Professor Mark Reed

Prof of Socio-Technical Innovation

Professor Mark Reed is the new HEFCE funded N8 Professor of Socio Technical Innovation,

also based in CRE, working across the eight northern universities that make up the N8 Agri

Food research consortium. He was previously Professor of Interdisciplinary Environmental

Research at Birmingham City University, has particular expertise in

public engagement and ensuring the impact of research and he has

taken up an additional role as the School’s Director of Impact and

Engagement.

Graduating in 1997 and 1999 with a BSc (hons) Tropical Environmental

Science and an MSc Agroforestry from the University of Aberdeen, his

Post Graduate Certificate in Learning & Teaching in Higher Education in

2004 and PhD in 2005 came from the University of Leeds. Moving to

the University of Aberdeen as a Senior Lecturer in 2009, where he became Director of

the Aberdeen Centre for Environmental Sustainability, then moving to Birmingham City

University.

During his career Mark has played important leadership roles in valuable research projects

and coordinated various socio-economic and environmental programmes. His expertise has

led to sitting on numerous panels and committees. Along with working with the media, he

has several other awards and accolades, including becoming the first UK researcher to be

awarded a joint fellowship by the US Social Science Research Council and ESRC.

Prof. William Willats

Prof of Molecular Agri-Diagnostics

Also new to the School is Professor of Molecular Agri-Diagnostics William

Willats. He was previously Professor of Plant Cell Wall Evolution and

Diversity at the University of Copenhagen. New joint appointments

between Fera and the school-based Institute for Agri Food Research and

Innovation also strengthen our links with front line industrial research.

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Celebrating 125 years of Agriculture at Newcastle

2016 was a significant year for the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development as we

celebrated 125 years of ground breaking agricultural research and teaching at Newcastle.

The original Department was founded

on its links with the industry and just like

our academic forebears; we continue

the tradition of conducting research that

makes a difference and of training the

next generation of farming practitioners.

The one difference is that our current

approach to training and research

extends beyond farming to include

agribusiness, the food supply chain and

healthy diets, and the links with rural

enterprise. With that integrated vision in mind, we look forward to another 125 years of

delivering innovation and new skills to the sector.

As part of our 125 years celebrations we have created

a library guide with our colleagues in the Robinson

Library. It is full of information on the school, past and

present. It is a fabulous archive of information, please

take a look and let us know what you think.

Many thanks to Robert Shiel, the School Archivist, who

has a wealth of knowledge and to our colleagues in the

Robinson Library for all their hard work in creating this.

The school held an event at The Farmers Club

in London, giving alumni the opportunity to

meet academics from AFRD, mark many past

achievements and reflect on the future

direction of the school. A video produced by

the school was previewed at the event. It is a

fantastic look back at the history and

achievements of the school as well as detailing

the current situation and looking to the future

for the next 125 years.

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UNAS at events 2016

The School of Agriculture, Food & Rural Development’s show trailer, part funded by UNAS,

was out and about during the show season. Exhibiting the school and the wider university to

potential students, as well as providing a place for alumni recent and less recent to meet

and catch up at the now traditional 3pm drinks reception on the first day of a show.

Open Farm Sunday

Cockle Park opened their gates to the public for

the 2016 Open Farm Sunday. Manager David

Watson and his team were supported by Junior

Society members, giving visitors the chance to

watch and take part in many activities including;

milking, sheep shearing, guided farm walks,

machinery displays, cow scanning, insect

diversity exhibits and a carbon capture garden.

Cereals

The Cambridgeshire weather was mostly dry for

the two days of cereals this past summer and

the sun even shone for the drinks reception

which was well attended.

Livestock Event Royal Highland Show

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UNAS at events 2017

Show Date Location

Northumberland County Show 29th May Stocksfield, Northumberland

Cereals 2017 14th & 15th June Boothby Graffoe, Lincolnshire

Royal Highland Shot 2017 22nd – 25th June Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh

Royal Norfolk Show 2017 28th & 29th June Norfolk Showground, Norwich

Great Yorkshire Show 11th – 13th July Yorkshire Showground, Harrogate

At the events, apart from Northumberland County show, a drinks reception on the stand was

held during the afternoon of the first day of each event.

More information about attendance at future events will be sent out via our social media

accounts so please ensure you are following us.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/afrdncl Twitter: www.twitter.com/afrdncl

Instagram: afrdncl

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Junior Society Report (2015-16)

This has been another great year for the Agrics, with success in the rugby, many Monday night

bar crawls, Christmas and Spring balls, bubble football, our trip to Durham and the end of

year BBQ

Ploughing Match

The ploughing match saw a traditional pre-ploughing match bar crawl around the toon, only

to wake up the next morning, stumble onto the bus with the traditional bottle of port and

get ready for a heavy day. After swiftly setting up the ploughs and a poor turnout from

Harper only sending a four-man team, the ploughing started, as did the DJ!

After a few hours of ploughing, there were a few hats 8” deep, a lot of empty port bottles

and a dry bar, it was all over and we got back on the bus to return to Newcastle. When we

got back, there was a short turnaround and then a meet at Ozzy road for a quick pint before

another night in town.

Unfortunately, Harper got to take the silverware home with them this year but it was a

cracking day and the team did us proud.

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Block fixtures at Harper Adams

This year we made the big journey down to Harper for sports fixtures, this involved;

basketball, football, netball, hockey and rugby.

After all the players and a few supporters boarded the bus at 4am, we made the big trip

down to Harper arriving at 10. When we arrived we were unexpectedly asked for a game of

basketball, after throwing together a team we stepped out onto the court. Playing a team

who had obviously been in training for some time, we inevitably lost. It was a similar story in

the football, netball and hockey

losing all three.

Then it was time for the main

entertainment, the Harper Vs Agrics

rugby match, this was a tough fought

game from both sides, ending in a

draw.

After this we all went back to Newport and got

suited and booted for the evening entertainment.

This involved a heated and intense game of darts,

feeding the snake, a boat race and then a live band

and finally ending up in Newport’s only nightclub.

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Rugby

We have had great success in the

rugby this year, coming second in

the league and winning the cup.

We also had a good go at the 10’s

and 7’s tournament, picking up

silver in the 10’s.

We hosted SAC (Edinburgh Agrics) for a rugby game and night out. This was another tough

game yet we managed to win in the last few seconds, making the win even better.

As well as this, we ventured to Morpeth for a game against the old farmers (some

supporters in fancy dress) this was one of the tougher games of the season which we

unfortunately lost, but was played in good spirit and then a good social with the lads after.

After the unfortunate loss of our good friend Robert Stevenson (Swede) an annual charity

rugby match was organised on behalf of his charity, we travelled to Malton, for a friendly

game, with players from both 1st and 2nd teams, which again we won. Then a social after

involving drinking games of all sorts, just how Swede would have wanted it.

At the end of 2016 we

unfortunately lost a very good

friend Ed, he had only been in the

society for three months but had

made a great impression, getting

as involved as possible and truly

embracing every aspect of Agric

life. Soon learning the rules of buzz

and becoming a key super 2’s

player, he was well known throughout the three years of students and for good reason. It

was my pleasure to know the lad and we could all strive to consistently be as happy as he

was. His presence is being sorely missed.

Ex-chairman – Harry Strawson

Chairman – James Carr

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Replacing soybean cake with insect meal in layers. Can we make an

added-value, more nutritious egg?

Eleni Chatzidimitriou✉, Gillian Butler

Nafferton Ecological Farming Group, School of Agriculture Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University,

Nafferton Farm, Stocksfield, Northumberland NE43 7XD, UK

✉[email protected]

Replacing soya cake with an alternative source of protein in poultry diets has always been a

challenge and it’s time we put it high on our agenda. In our growing world population, soya

production is considered by many as unsustainable resulting in deforestation, increased

carbon emissions and having a big environmental impact overall. In addition, with respect to

the “feed versus food” dilemma, soya could be used for human consumption and land used

for its production could then be used for other food crops. The UK and EU are highly reliant

on imports for which it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain genetically modified free

soya, making the need for replacement stronger than ever.

Insects, which are naturally part of wild birds’ diet and have been on the scene for a while

now, are a promising and sustainable candidate as they can be fed and grown efficiently on

various food matrixes including food waste. More importantly, they can have a very similar

amino acid profile to soybean which is crucial for poultry production and additionally can be

rich in nutrients that are beneficial to human health. Such nutrients include carotenoids,

vitamins and important polyunsaturated fatty acids, i.e. omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.

The health benefits of the latter are well recognized, with studies showing protective effects

against heart and cardiovascular disease. However, the bottleneck for use of insect meal as a

feed is regulation and it is important that policy will keep pace with world’s needs for high

quality sustainable protein production.

A collaborative feeding trial between Newcastle University and FiBL institute in Switzerland

was designed to assess; (a) the feasibility of soybean cake replacement in layers’ nutrition

with insects and (b) the modified egg fatty acid profile.

Soybean cake was replaced by black soldier fly meal at a final concentration in the diet of 12%

(50% soybean cake) and 24% (0% soybean cake), , both of which were compared to a

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controlled soya-fed layer group (36% soybean cake). Dr Veronika Maurer from FiBL led the

production assessment and the findings (Maurer et al., 2016) show similar performances

between groups both for egg production and feed intake.

Seeing that it’s feasible to replace soya with insect protein without compromising production,

it was critical to look into the egg nutrient load and highlight any changes in fat profile. After

a three week feeding period we saw that the highest inclusion of insects had higher total

monounsaturated fatty acids, driven by a similar increase of the dominant oleic acid. This is

considered a positive change; oleic acid is the dominant fatty acid in olive and rapeseed oils

and benefits of increasing dietary consumption specifically at the expense of saturated fat,

are well known. Another positive change was that levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids in

eggs were the same as in eggs from the control diet, but only when soya was partially

replaced. Finally, one of the most relevant changes was regarding the omega-6 to omega-3

fatty acid ratio, which has been associated with protective effects towards cardiovascular

disease - this was lower for eggs from both insect levels in the diet compared to eggs from

the soya-fed control group (Figure 1).

Figure 1.Effect of Hermetia illucens on egg

omega 6/omega3 (n6/n3) ratio. Control: soya

based control diet. H12: Insect level at 12% of

the final diet; H24: Insect level at 24% of the

final diet. Different letters above each column

indicate a significant statistical difference

(P < 0.05) between groups according to

Tukey’s honestly significant difference test.

On the negative side of changes, we noticed increasing levels of insect meal in the diet

increased the total saturated fatty acids as well. While it is recommended that dietary

saturated fat should be as low as possible within the context of a nutritionally adequate diet,

this should be looked into closer and with caution. Furthermore, the higher the rate of insect

inclusion, the lower the total polyunsaturated fatty acids in the egg, a decrease which is

attributed to lower levels of linoleic acid, the dominant polyunsaturated fatty acid in eggs.

However, although linoleic acid is essential for human nutrition, considering it’s abundance

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in our diet in general, a lower proportion in eggs could be considered as neutral with respect

to our health.

Are these results promising? Yes, taking into consideration that soybean cake can be replaced

by insect meal without compromising production, the egg fatty acid profile is also modified in

both desirable and undesirable ways. What can be done next to add more value to eggs and

tailor the nutrient profile to human needs? Research has to look into optimum insect species

with suitable nutrient profiles and also into sustainable food matrixes as substrates for insect

growth that would support a tailored nutrient dense insect meal for both poultry production

and human health.

In conclusion, insects seem to be a promising alternative for high quality protein in poultry

production with the possibility of an added value product being realistic. For this to happen,

policy has to take pressure off the regulation bottleneck of insects as animal feed and finally,

balance the optimum insect species with layers productivity, egg nutrients, welfare and

overall sustainability.

*Maurer, V., Holinger, M., Amsler, Z., Früh, B., Wohlfahrt, J., Stamer, A. and Leiber, F. (2016) Replacement of soybean cake by Hermetia illucens meal in diets for layers. Journal of Insects as Food and Feed, 2(2), pp. 83-90.

The results of this research were presented at the European Association of Animal Production

meeting in Belfast, September 2016 (Chatzidimitriou E, Maurer V, Leiber F, Baranski M,

Stergiadis S, Butler G. The effect of insect meal on egg fatty acid profile. In: 67th Annual

Meeting of the European Association of Animal Production. 2016, Belfast, UK: Wageningen

Academic Publishers). The authors would like to acknowledge UNAS (Agricultural Society of

Newcastle University) and the British Society of Animal Science for funding the trip to the

conference and the EU (LowInputBreeds FP7-CP-IP 222623) for funding the research.

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University of Newcastle Agricultural Society (UNAS)

Annual General Meeting: Saturday 7th November 2016

The Assembly Rooms (Regency Suite) at 18.30

Minutes

In attendance: Simon Smith (Treasurer), Paul Bilsborrow (Secretary), Steve Wilcockson,

Jonathan Goodfellow (Editor), Christopher Goldthorpe, Harry Huddart, Ben Allison-Hughes,

Rob Edwards (Head of School) Katie Hardy (Marketing Manager), Michelle Palmer, Karen

Stubbs (Secretary to meeting).

1. Apologies received from: William Bradwell (Chairman), Jack Smith (Vice-Chairman), David

Moffatt, Jon Smith, Rich Garner, Peter Redman, Peter Forrest, James Brown, Joanne Leiper,

Nicola Burkinshaw, James Stark, George Gooderham, James Steele, Robert Scholey and

Robert Shiel.

1.1 Welcome

Simon Smith and Paul Bilsborrow jointly chaired the meeting in the absence of both William

Bradwell and Jack Smith. The Chair(s) welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced

Harry Huddart and Ben Allison-Hughes as previous Chairman and Secretary of the Junior Agric

Society to the Committee.

2. Minutes of the last AGM held on Saturday 7th November 2015

The minutes of the last meeting were accepted and approved as a true and accurate record.

3. Matters arising from the minutes of the last meeting

3.1 Regarding the ‘Peer to Peer’ loans proposal, P Bilsborrow discussed further with J

Franks. J Franks no longer wants to pursue this as he only wanted to focus on UK

Agriculture students whereas UNAS is wider reaching meaning that it would be difficult

to incorporate his concept. Action closed.

3.2 Membership drive aimed at leavers, recent graduates and conversion from Junior Soc.

See discussion at item 7.2. Action ongoing.

3.3 The action to cross-reference the membership list from the Alumni Office and the

standing orders on the bank account is outstanding and will hopefully be completed in

2017. Action remains.

3.4 The UNAS plaque has been mounted in the events trailer however the invoice for the

trailer has still not been received. See discussions at item 4.1 and 7.3. Action remains.

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3.5 There have been a couple of Public Lectures (Dianna Bowles and Mike Brown). UNAS

are still happy to contribute to costs of more sponsored talks/seminars/lectures. Action

ongoing.

3.6 Decision regarding proposal for permanent exhibition at Cockle Park is that external

exhibits do not weather well. On a related note, there is a video of 125 years of

Agriculture that has been made. UNAS are happy to contribute to the cost of this

provided it is updated with notice of sponsorship. See discussion at item 7.4.

3.7 London event celebrating 125 years was held at the Farmer’s Club in October and was a

great success. Feedback received indicates an interest for more similar events. See

discussion at 11.1.

4. Items for discussion

4.1 Financial relationship with Newcastle University – see tabled document

The document outlines an issue highlighted by the University, that the ‘University of

Newcastle Agricultural Society’ name has ‘Newcastle University’ in the title even though UNAS

is a standalone entity. The University have therefore requested that the society change its

name (the acronym UNAS would be permitted). The committee agree to change the name of

the society to ‘UNAS’.

On trying to invoice UNAS for the trailer, it was highlighted that UNAS could not be c/o AFRD

as this is a conflict having an address within the University. Committee agree that the address

should be changed to the Treasurer’s address. There will still be two signatories needed for

any spend. (Currently these are: Simon Smith, Steve Wilcockson and Jonathan Guy.

Committee agree these are to remain).

The committee discuss point 2 in the document. The committee agree not to close the

UNAS bank account and to keep this for memberships. This protects the UNAS identity and

keeps membership payments separate from the University, as many donations are given to

UNAS with good will.

Committee agree that the webstore has worked favourably for the purchase of dinner ticket

sales this year and are happy to maintain this going forward for joint-event organisation

which is beneficial. The money received in to the University cost centre is used to pay the

costs of the event.

The University is happy to send reports for accounting to the UNAS treasurer. In the event

there is a profit in the University cost centre account, the committee can decide how this is

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spent. This operational account in the University will need to run on year to year and not

nullify at the end of year closedown.

Action: SS will make the required changes to the UNAS bank account as outlined above.

Action: KS will liaise with NU Finance Manager to ensure this.

4.2 Declining membership

See discussion under 7.2

5. Chairman’s report (William Bradwell)

No report received.

6. Secretary’s report (Paul Bilsborrow)

Two PhD students were sponsored this year: Eleni Chatzidimitriou (£200) to attend a

conference at Queens University, Belfast and present a paper ‘The effect of insect meal on

egg fatty acid profile’ at the European Federation of Animal production conference; and

Idiegberanoise Oikeh (£300) to present a poster at the 25th World Poultry Congress Sept 5-9

Beijing, China ‘Effects of coccidian infection on broiler genotypes divergently selected for

performance traits’. Olabanji Obasami was given £250 towards funding for his Masters

project in Niger ‘An assessment of the potential for sweet sorghum as a biofuel crop in Niger

Republic and the implications on food security’. £400 was awarded to 4 students towards

costs for presentations at UG British Society of Animal Science (of which four did become fully

paying UNAS members). Four Agribusiness students were awarded £100 per student for

scholarships to attend the International Food and Agribusiness Management Association

meeting at Aarhus, Denmark but this is not showing in Treasurer’s report.

Action: KS to check where this was charged to.

Committee agree that the practice of the provision of sponsorship that supervisors and

students become members of UNAS should continue. Committee discuss putting this

information on the UNAS section of the website and advertising to all staff in the School.

UNAS are happy to respond on a case-by-case basis to requests from UG DPDs for

sponsorship money. Committee agree £1500 per year is available for PG students to attend

conferences/events etc.

Action: PB will give KH wording to put on website.

7. Treasurer’s report (Simon Smith): Annual Accounts document received

7.1 Annual Dinner

This is the 67th Annual UNAS dinner. Numbers are slightly down on last year’s 180 at 170.

This includes 3 tables (30 tickets) for the Junior Agrics. There is only a small profit made on

the dinner as the overheads are continually increasing. Committee agree to increase the

ticket price to non-members by £5 to £50 per ticket, and perhaps putting out a bottle of wine

on each table.

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Action: KS to check projected cost of 2017 dinner.

Most of the tickets this year were purchased in advance via the new online booking system,

although a few were still received via bank transfer as well as some cheques and cash still

received. The deposit for the 2018 dinner has already been paid to the Assembly Rooms.

7.2 Membership

Subscriptions are still in decline despite the continuing effort to gain new members. As is said

every year, there is a need to focus on membership, incentives and student conversion.

A full check of the societies’ membership needs to be undertaken by cross-referencing the

bank account with the database held by the Alumni Office as some of the standing orders are

very old. There is little reference on the standing orders which makes them hard to identify.

Action: S Smith and K Stubbs will action.

Committee discuss that recent graduates are not joining and how to address this.

Committee agree that there needs to be a push before graduates leave as when they are

leaving, they are not thinking about keeping in touch at that point. It is normally about a

year later when the recent graduates think about getting in touch again. Committee agree

that continually emailing may keep UNAS in mind but concerns regarding bombarding

people with communications. Committee agree:

To produce a form for the leavers reminding them that they will be losing their

University email account soon and so to provide their personal email addresses at

that point. The Chairman of the Junior Society will be tasked with this when they

pass over;

That the Junior Society organise an annual debating event (UNAS will provide

catering);

That the President and Vice-President/Secretary of the current Junior Agric Society

would be formally invited as official guests of UNAS each year to the AGM and

dinner to encourage awareness in the younger ranks. They would then become

UNAS Committee members upon graduating;

That until the end of 2017, for every member that joins the Senior Society, UNAS will

donate £15 to the Rob Stephenson Trust.

Action: P Bilsborrow to pass on this information to the Junior Society.

7.3 Trailer

£10,000 was promised to the School from UNAS to help fund the trailer, this was decided by

the Committee to be a good way to say thank you and to give back to the School. No invoice

has been received as yet.

Action: K Stubbs will chase this up to be paid before the end of this (University) financial

year.

22

7.4 Investments

The committee agree to make a 50% contribution to video (£2,400) provided it is enveloped

with a statement that it has been made with a contribution from UNAS.

Action: K Hardy will add this to the video and KS will organise invoice.

8. Journal Editor’s report (Jonathan Goodfellow)

The Journal (Volume 38 (2015)) went out later than hoped in June 2016 and there had been

no Junior Society content for it. Committee discuss putting in members details so that they

could contact each other but there are concerns regarding data protection. The next

Journal will hopefully go out in March/April 2017 (Volume 39 (2016)).

Action: KS will schedule this communication with the Alumni Office.

9. Events update (Katie Hardy)

The events went very well as always with the drinks reception remaining very popular.

Committee agree this should continue and suggest making a permanent sign to display at

each event regarding the Reception for UNAS members.

NU will be attending the same events in 2017, this time including the Royal Norfolk Show and

with the exception of Livestock which has now changed to Dairy Tech and will be in February

2018. There will also be a seminar at the Great Yorkshire. Committee discuss exhibiting

further afield for example in Ireland as there is a potential market there.

Action: K Hardy will speak to M Wallace to consider if this is possible.

10. Election of Officers

Chairman - Will Bradwell has completed term as Chairman (3 years). New Chairman - Jack

Smith.

(PB, SW)

Vice Chairman - Jack Smith has completed term as Chairman (3 years). New Vice-Chairman

Jamie Stark (SW, PB)

Secretary - Paul Bilsborrow to continue (SS, SW)

Treasurer - Simon Smith to continue (PB, SW)

Journal Editor - Jonathan Goodfellow will continue (SS, PB)

Committee Members – Steve Wilcockson (this has never been officially noted), Harry Huddart

and Ben Allison-Hughes have joined the committee.

11. Any Other Business

11.1 Update on 125 Years Celebrations (Rob Edwards)

The annual Cameron-Gifford public lecture delivered by Dianne Bowles and the alumni event

at the Farmer’s Club in London were very well received. Feedback received that London

alumni would like an annual event in London. Committee discuss hosting a dinner event in

23

London, perhaps at Smithfield’s in the Spring and/or another event in Farmer’s Club for more

senior alumni. Committee also discuss hosting another event in Newcastle but for more

senior members as the dinner is less appealing, perhaps in the Summer. There had been a 50

year reunion in Alnmouth last month which was very well attended. There has been interest

from alumni in visiting the farms. NU Library have suggested hosting an open evening to

browse the old archive material. Committee are not sure if this would be well attended.

Action: KS will connect with the Northern Counties Club and investigate options for the

other events.

11.2 K Hardy drew a mock-up of the NU/UNAS website to show the Committee.

Unfortunately to get something password protected is quite hard. This remains under

consideration.

Action: K Hardy will make navigation clearer.

12. Closing remarks and thanks

Chair thanks everyone for attending. The next AGM will be on Saturday 11th November 2017.

24

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED

30TH SEPTEMBER 2015

2015 2016

£ £

INCOME 5,133.00 Subscriptions 4,976.50

6.83 Bank Interest 12.96

1,255.00 Profit on Annual Dinner 808.00

25.50 Clothing -

Misc. Income

6420.33 5797.46

EXPENDITURE 0.00 Printing & Stationery -

0.00 Postage & Telephone 0

0.00 Lectures 92.00

700.00 Sponsorship 1,050.00

Alumni functions 180.00

62.90 Miscellaneous -

762.90 1322.00

5657.43 Excess of Income over Expenditure 4475.46

25

BALANCE SHEET AS AT

30TH SEPTEMBER 2015

2015 2015

£ £

CASH AT BANK 28,627.46 Current Account 24,448.96

13,690.92 Business Premium Account 28,703.88

495.30 Cash 495.30

350.00 Deposit Paid in Advance 350.00

2016 Advance sales 75.00

Uncleared sponsorship 750.00

Creditors - University 5534.00

43163.68 47639.14

REPRESENTED BY: 37,506.25 Accumulated Fund - 1st October 2014 43163.68

5,657.43 Add Surplus (Deficit) For Year 4475.46

43163.68 47639.14

26

Journal We would like to remind you that the journal will only be distributed electronically from now on, so please ensure we have your most recent email address. UNAS members with news or articles for inclusion in the Journal can contact Jonathan Goodfellow, the UNAS Journal Editor, at [email protected]. 68th Annual Reunion Dinner We are pleased to confirm that this year’s annual reunion dinner will be at the Assembly Rooms on Saturday 11th November 2017. More information and booking details will be emailed nearer the time. Photographs from last years’ dinner can be found on Facebook. Membership Please can we request that all members check their membership status if you have not done so recently. The current membership fee is £15.00 per annum payable by standing order. Membership forms and other information can be found on the UNAS website. Please encourage your friends to join! Contact details It is important that we have your up-to-date information. You will only receive UNAS contact via email now, often via the Alumni Office database contact system. It is important that we have your up-to-date email address to make sure you don’t miss out on anything. Please complete an update contact form available on the UNAS website or email us at [email protected]. PASS IT ON – if there is anyone you know who would like to receive information from UNAS, or who used to receive it but no longer does, please urge them to tell us their email address. Social media You can contact us via the following social media channels: Facebook: www.facebook.com/afrdncl Twitter: www.twitter.com/afrdncl Instagram: afrdncl Please join our Agric Alumni LinkedIn group too. Branded merchandise Classic UNAS ties are still available. In polyester, these have a dark-green background with purple/white/gold diagonal stripes. Cost including post and packing is £7.50 per tie. A range of polo and rugby shirts, v-neck pullovers and other leisurewear is available embroidered with the ‘Agrics’ logo. If you would like further information about any of our branded merchandise or would like to place an order, please contact us. Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time with news, to update your details, or with any feedback or suggestions on [email protected].