Twenty four year old Grace Cotton, member of Crumlin Young Farmers’ Club was one of the five Young Farmers’ Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) members that attended the 5 Nations Member Conference in 2024. The conference was hosted by YFCU and was held in the Scout Centre at Crawfordsburn County Park in Bangor from Wednesday 16th to Sunday 20th October 2024.
Grace is an active member of the organisation, currently sitting on the YFCU Wellbeing & Development Committee and was a long standing Public Relations Officer for Crumlin YFC. Her current occupation is within the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) branch of the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs of Northern Ireland (DAERA), and she enjoys playing Hockey for her local team in her spare time and travelling around the World.
Grace explained that the 5 Nations Member Conference was significantly more than she ever expected it to be. “I was surrounded by a lovely group of people, and enjoyed the in-depth discussions with like minded Young Farmers’ members. The highlight of my trip was the excursion day which showed a great insight into opportunities for diversification and it was great to see the different methods of farming between different farms”.
Grace was asked to give one piece of advice to a YFCU member who wishes to embark on a travel or exchange opportunity. She replied, “We all spend too much time convincing ourselves that we aren’t ready to travel to new places, or travel solo and it scares us. If it scares you, just go for it and don’t sit on the fence. It will no doubt be one of the best things you have ever done”.
YFCU members can apply for travel opportunities through the website (www.yfcu.org/travel) and can also apply to host Exchangees from other countries, showcasing all that Northern Ireland has to offer. Members are encouraged to reach out to YFCU Headquarters if they have any questions regarding the travel programme.