Business Skills Award Opens for Applications
AgriScot has launched the 2026 Business Skills Awards, marking 16 years of the prestigious competition, with a top prize of £1,000 for the winner, kindly sponsored by Virgin Money.
A competition for aspiring agricultural professionals between 18 and 25 years of age from across the UK, this year’s topic is ‘What should be the top priority for Scottish agriculture over the next 25 years, and how can the industry achieve it?’
Designed to identify and develop the next generation of agricultural business leaders, the competition is run in partnership with SRUC, and in addition to a financial reward, offers the chance for participates to grow their own skills, knowledge and networks… more.
Click here to download the Business Skills Competition Key Information Sheet.
The Business Skills Award is sponored by Virgin Money
And organised by SRUC
Business Skills Winner 2025 - Rachel Baillie
Stephen Buchan Regional Head of Agriculture – Scotland for Virgin Money, Sponsors of the AgriScot Business Skills competition presents Rachel Baillie with her £1000 prize cheque.
Innovation and planning for the future were at the heart of the event, with AgriScot’s Business Skills Winner demonstrating a strong understanding of the industry and the requirements to adapt to deliver a profitable farming business. Won by Rachel Baillie from South Lanarkshire, a fourth-year student studying Agricultural and Farm Business Management at Harper Adams University is from a mixed dairy and sheep farm just outside Carstairs, Rachel received a prize of £1,000, supported by Virgin Money. The competition, which is coordinated by SRUC, celebrated 15 years at AgriScot 2025 and included a special ceremony with all the winners.
Commenting on the win, Rachel said, “I’m really excited to have won the AgriScot Business Skills Award. It’s really pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I found it particularly interesting to learn other people’s opinions and views. I’ve picked up so many new skills and lots of knowledge on everything from global issues to finances on the farm.”
Business Skills Winner 2024 - Bruce Adkin
Bruce (centre), picked up the top award with runners up Max Bryson (left), and Senga Barron (right). Also pictured is Lucy Orr from Sponsors NFU Mutal and George Baikie from organisers of the competition, SRUC.
Bruce grew up working on his family beef and sheep farm near Thornhill in Dumfries & Galloway, relief milking at weekends and is in his third year of studying Agriculture Bsc (hons) at the SRUC Barony Campus.
The competition, which seeks out the next generation of young agri-professional talent, focused this year on the theme of ‘how multiple income streams can contribute to business resilience’.
The first heats of the competition, which is sponsored by NFU Mutual and organised by Heather Kerr at Scotland’s Rural College SRUC with support from Young Farmers at SAYFC, were held on a farm in Lanarkshire.
Bruce said: “It was all such a good, enjoyable and rewarding experience and I would recommend anyone to enter next year. It was a good opportunity to improve myself and my business acumen and a great challenge to be part of the heats.”
He intends to invest his £1000 prize in ‘something wise’.
The runners up were Senga Barron and Max Bryson. Senga graduated from SRUC (Edinburgh) in 2023 with a BA (Hons) degree in Rural Business Management, and now works as a Graduate Rural Surveyor for Galbraith in Perth. Max is in third year studying Agriculture Bsc (hons) at the SRUC Barony campus. He has grown up with a strong passion for farming, in particular dairy and machinery.
AgriScot chair, Robert Neil, highlighted the importance of the AgriScot Business Skills competition for challenging young people to think creatively and strategically about how to run businesses in agriculture.
“It’s been another really good round of judging and seeing young people working to enhance their skills and confidence which is vital for the future of our industry. The focus on building business resilience through diverse income streams is very topical as we see farming businesses across the UK thinking and operating differently in order to stay relevant and profitable in a changing agricultural landscape.”
AgriScot Business Skills 2023
The AgriScot Business Skills Competition was won by Ian Carlisle and was presented with his prize cheque by Fraser Russell from sponsors, NFU Mutual. Ian and Fraser are pictured with Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affars, Mairi Gougeon.
AgriScot 2022 Business Skills
Business Skills Winner 2022 – Jack Young
Taking place on 16 November was the live final of the Business Skills Award, with Jack Young crowned the winner and successfully taking home the £1000 cash prize, kindly supported by SRUC and NFU Mutual. The final stage of the competition involved evaluating the recipient of the Product Innovation Award and presenting their findings back to a panel of judges, answering further questions around business skills, topical agricultural issues and how they are developing their CV.
From Carluke, Lanarkshire, Jack studied agriculture at both SRUC Barony and Oatridge campuses. After spending some time travelling New Zealand, Jack returned home to work on the family farm full time. He is also an active member of his local Young Farmers club.
AgriScot 2021 Business Skills Winner Announced
Emily Mosley received a £1000 cheque as his / her prize for winning the AgriScot Business Skills competition on Wednesday 9th February.
Emily, a Harper Adams graduate, originally from Derbyshire but now working as a Farm Administrator in Tain, saw off stiff competition from her fellow finalists: Ben McSporran a 3rd year BSc Agriculture student at SRUC Edinburgh and Stewart Shaw, a partner in his family farming and contracting business in the Scottish Borders and also a keen SAYFC member.
Emily was presented with the prize cheque courtesy of sponsors, NFU Mutual, as part of a special AgriScot awards ceremony. The ceremony was held live at Ingliston and Livestreamed online to a viewing audience.
The final of the competition, which took place immediately before the prize giving, saw the finalists assess and report on an innovative new electrically powered telescopic handler from Merlo. Judges asked each to report on the potential value of the machine to a farm business.
Emily commented on her win:
“I’m really pleased to have won!”
“The competition was hard. We went to the semi-final on a farm at Laurencekirk and had to answer loads of questions. It was tough; but an enjoyable experience.”
“Today was also tough, daunting – a bit like Dragons Den; but I’m so glad to have come through.”
“Overall, it’s been a great experience and I have enhanced my CV. Today at the AgriScot awards has been a great, networking opportunity.”
Heather Kerr, a lecturer at SRUC, who co-ordinates the competition on behalf of the AgriScot team commented:
“Congratulations to Emily.”
“It was great to have such strong finalists for the competition. I am especially thrilled that they came from relatively diverse backgrounds in terms of their education and work experience.”
“I know that the judges were impressed by the performance of all 3 in the final competition and I hope that the experience will stand them all in good stead in their future careers. Well done to Emily for going that extra mile to secure the first prize.”
“I would like to thank everyone involved throughout the various stages of the competition, from the farmer hosts of the regional heats to the judges and in particular to our mentors from RBS who supported the finalists all the way through and also, of course to our sponsors, NFU Mutual.”
Mark McBrearty, NFU Mutual Regional Manager also congratulated Emily:
“The finalists all demonstrated a real flare for both practical farming expertise and business knowledge. It was great to see such a high calibre of entries and congratulations to Emily for taking the top prize.
“As the insurer of three quarters of the UK’s farms, NFU Mutual understands the important role young people have to play in the farming sector. These young people are the future of our industry and, by encouraging and rewarding their efforts, we hope we can help them make a difference not only to themselves but also within our farming and rural communities.”
