Upper Third Former Wins Design Award

Farmvention is where farming meets invention, organised by the NFU (National Farmers’ Union of Britain) that runs annually. I was extremely fortunate to have been chosen as one of the nine winners in the summer, when I developed a solution that would help the British farming community tackle climate change. I was invited to the Houses of Parliament to present my idea, the C-Shift, designed to extract and inject carbon into soil to increase crop yields for the agricultural sector. So, on the 24th November, my friends, Mr Reid, my parents and I were transported to the venue. It was my first time standing within the grounds of the House of Commons and I was very excited indeed – I marvelled at the amount of security installations at every entrance. We made our way through the halls to the terrace, where I set up a board with information about my product and displayed my model on the display stand provided. Many members of the NFU, prominent MPs, a variety of marketers, organisers, University representatives and even farmers themselves visited my stall. The farmers’ opinions were particularly interesting as I learnt directly from them how the invention could positively impact their daily lives. I had a constructive discussion with the President of the NFU – Minette Batters - who asked me many interesting questions. Merchant Taylors’ very own constituency MP, Mr Gagan Mohindra, was intrigued by my model. I showed him, and some visitors from the University of Manchester, my idea and how it worked too. I’d like to end with a huge thanks to the DT department for providing me with the tools and resources, with a special thanks to Mr Docherty and Mr Reid for guiding me through the journey of engineering the model. Also, a shoutout to Mr Reid and my friends: Aviral Agarwal, Pranay Patel, and Aran Fevzi for supporting me, helping me set up the display professionally and giving me the encouragement needed on the day - you were all wonderful! Finally, I’d like to thank my parents for supporting me through the competition and keeping me high-spirited on this adventure!