IAgrE Celebrate Awards at AGCO
This year’s Awards took place at AGCO in Stoneleigh on the 30 April. The event celebrated achievements in agricultural engineering. It was a wonderful chance to talk to old friends and network with other IAgrE members and their guests.
AGCO looked after us extremely well, and the feedback received is that it was a great day with excellent hospitality provided by the company.
Dr. Mark Moore’s talk on how challenges can turn into opportunities for agricultural engineers highlighted the critical role that engineers play in addressing food supply issues. It was inspiring to see the community come together to recognise excellence among peers and to learn about AGCO's commitment to training their technicians.
The winners were:
The IAgrE Award of Merit – is made to a person distinguished by their work in agricultural science or engineering or for someone who has delivered an outstanding service to the Institution. This year it was awarded to Professor Simon Pearson FIAgrE - for his outstanding contribution to Robotics and AI
Simon was humbled and proud to receive this award and thanked the Institution for their support. He plans to continue to develop his work while supporting the next generation of aspiring robotics engineers.
Ruth Bailey MIAgrE and CEO of the AEA received an award for her Contribution to the land-based sector. This award is presented to a person well-respected in the industry who has made a sustained contribution to the land-based sector throughout their career.
Sadly, Ruth couldn’t be with us on the day but she sent a video in which she said it was such an honour, especially when she looked back at all the incredible people that had received this award in the past. Ruth said the team at the AEA were passionate and dedicated to encouraging young people into the industry and the launch of the “We are Land-based” web site has been crucial to increasing the visibility of agricultural engineering as a career.
Ruth also commended the relationship between the AEA and IAgrE and the work of IAgrE in helping to promote excellent training for engineers in our sector.
Jeff Claydon, who founded the successful Suffolk-based agricultural machinery company Claydon Drills was also recognised for his outstanding contribution to land-based technology and his designs created to fix real farming problems. His Yield-o-meter and direct drill concepts are now embedded into agricultural design.
“It is a real honour that the IAgrE has recognised my contribution to the agricultural industry since founding Claydon Yield-o-Meter,” said Jeff. “It has been an exciting, often challenging, journey and in those early days I could never have imagined that the company which bears my name would reach the position that it is in today.
As an arable farmer who has always been interested in agricultural machinery I have constantly experimented to find new ways of operating more efficiently and effectively. The machines which my team and I have developed over the years have helped our customers to benefit from that expertise.
“I believe that the role of technology will grow significantly as Claydon continues to develop and move forward. Our latest drills already incorporate the ability to place crops, companion crops, fertilisers and crop protection products in one pass, which will help the farming industry meet the challenges of the future. I think we have a design set for the next quarter-century but we will always be looking ahead.”
The President's Award (formerly the Michael Dwyer Memorial Prize) goes to a mid-career engineer who has made outstanding progress in the agricultural engineering industry, and this went to a well-deserved Dr Paula Misiewicz AMIAgrE - for her achievements in agricultural engineering and academic research.
Paula said she was very thrilled and honoured to be recognised by the Institution and thanked
her colleagues and mentors who had helped her during her career, which began at Silsoe. A special thank you went to Professor Dick Godwin for his help and support. She said, “Harper is an amazing place to work and I would also like to thank the Douglas Bomford Trust for their support as a research partner.” She went on to say how rewarding her work is and how much she enjoys helping her students achieve success in agricultural engineering.
The Environmental Engineer Team Award is a new award sponsored by the Douglas Bomford Trust for a team who have made a substantial contribution to improving any aspect of the environment.
This year’s winner was Martin Parsons CEng CEnv FIAgrE who led the Holme Fen Regeneration project. Martin was joined by Jo Finlow, Project Manager for the Fens East Peat Partnership.
“It was a great honour to attend the IAgrE awards ceremony and receive the IAgrE Environmental Engineer Team Award from IAgrE President Mark Moore for the peatland restoration work that I am leading at Holme Fen NNR in the Cambridgeshire fens, funded by the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme.
My thanks to our team of Jo Finlow (Project Manager, Fens East Peat Partnership) and Catherine Weightman (Fens Specialist, Natural England) for their help and support. My thanks also to the Douglas Bomford Trust for sponsoring the award, and to AGCO Ltd for hosting the event.
Both Martin & Jo very much enjoyed their day with us and were pleased that this important environmental work is being supported and recognised.
The Environmental Engineer Award sponsored by the Douglas Bomford Trust for an individual who has made a substantial contribution to improving any aspect of the environment was presented to Daniel Mitchell MSc HAU - for his thesis - Investigation of the effects of compaction methods on the hydraulic conductivity of clay bunding to enable selective control of hydrology in agricultural and paludiculture application.
Institution Meritorious Service Awards go to a person who has given outstanding service to the Institution through work for a Branch or Group, through their teaching or as a volunteer. One went to Chris Watts CEng CEnv FIAgrE - Membership Committee - for his commitment and support of the Membership Secretary and the Committee.
Chris was pleased to attend to accept this award and explained that he feels it is a privilege and fun helping professionals improve their career progression. He also said it is very satisfying to visit the different universities and colleges to assess and credit a variety of courses.
David Yates EngTech MIAgrE - East Midlands Branch was also received a Meritorious Service Award for his enthusiasm and support of the East Midlands Branch.
David was delighted to attend and accept this award and has been pleased to help ensure that the East Midlands Branch continues to thrive.
The winner of the Douglas Bomford Paper Award this year, for their contribution to the paper “Comparison of Transformers with LSTM for classification of the behavioural time budget in horses based on video data” was the team of Albert Martin-Cirera, Magdelena Nowak, Tomas Norton, Ulrike Auer, Maciej Oczak Biosystems Engineering, Volume 242, 2024, Pages 154-168, ISSN 1537-5110.
Dr Tomas Norton FIAgrE was unable to attend this year but sent a video message thanking everyone.
The Award is offered to the author or authors of a paper which, in the previous calendar year, was published in full in the Institution journals “Landwards” and/or “Biosystems Engineering”. At least one of the authors must be a member of the Institution.
The Ivel Award which is made at the LAMMA Show to the overall best product or environmental innovation at the show was awarded this year to Knight's Farm Machinery at the LAMMA show in January by CEO Charlie Nicklin for the “Smart Inject” sprayer system designed to reduce the application of chemical on farm.
Brian Knight MIAgrE was very pleased to join the celebrations at Abbey Park and had a most enjoyable day with us.
The following students received IAgrE Awards:
IAgrE CNH Industrial Award - Made based on a dissertation or thesis undertaken by an undergraduate or postgraduate student as part of their studies, demonstrating innovation and practical application in the land-based industry.
The Postgraduate Award went to Luke Waldram MEng HAU for his paper - An Investigation To Determine The Feasibility Of Integrating Stop-Start Technology Into Off-Highway Vehicles. (Using a Mercedes Benz Unimog U530 as a case study).
The CNH Undergraduate Award was presented to David Goodchild BEng HAU for the paper – Developing a standard tine wear evaluation.
Student Project Award is given to the best final year project submitted as part of a course leading to ND, NVQ Level 3, or similar qualification in land-based engineering. This year it went to Tom Ablitt, Coleg Sirgar for his project - Silage bunker cleaner.
IAgrE Safety Award has been established to encourage and recognise innovation in safe design or operation of equipment or processes by students studying agricultural engineering or subjects related to the application of engineering and technology to the land-based sector.
Hywel Jones TIAgrE, Coleg Sirgar – received this award for his project “Trailed implement efficiency monitor.”
Click here to read more about the event and see the pictures.