Joanna Mitchell is an MDS trainee and is set to move on to her third placement of the scheme. Read below as Joanna reflects on her time with James Hutton Limited. 

The heatwave is a distant memory, it’s raining, and everything has turned very autumnal which can only mean one thing. Summer is over and secondment changeover has arrived! As an MDS Trainee, over the period of two years we change placements in the Spring and the Autumn with the aim of gaining as much exposure as possible to the fresh produce industry.

This week is my final week here at James Hutton Limited before moving South again, making it the perfect time to reflect on my secondment at JHL.

Wherever you look right now, whether that is the UK or globally, you cannot avoid the increasing challenge we are all facing of food security.

Therefore, to have had the chance to have learnt about how James Hutton, as a World Leading Research Institute is tackling this issue head on has been a great experience. 

This has varied from learning about soft fruit and how it can be bred to be adaptable to environments and conditions that growers now must contend with;  to being exposed to work that supports the potato and cereal industries which has the scope to immensely impact UK Agriculture.

Massive thanks must go to all the soft fruit, cereal, and potato teams for answering all my questions and helping with creating marketing videos - you are all movie stars!

An eye-opening moment for me must be the tour of Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) which is a vertical farming organisation that is co located on site in Invergowrie. Learning about how crop trials can be carried out in a controlled environment really gave me an insight into a new avenue of farming which is inspiring for the future.

As my role at JHL was based in marketing, I was in a favourable position of being able to attend various events over the summer months which was certainly a highlight for me. Showcasing some of the work James Hutton do and meeting some of the people JHL are working with during such a crucial time when food and science is so fundamental to the future was an absolute privilege. 

Six weeks into my placement, we headed down to Cambridge to exhibit at Cereals and from there it was an event whirlwind until August. Next stop was the Royal Highland Show, followed by Fruit Focus.  During the summer I was also able to attend Fruit for the Future and Arable Scotland hosted by the Institute.

And now that I have eaten plenty of raspberries all summer, I can confirm that Skye is officially my new favourite raspberry variety!

Thank you very much to everyone for your support over the last few months!