With the end of the school year not too far off, a new generation of graduates are currently considering their options and waiting patiently for college or university applications to arrive.
Haldimand Federation of Agriculture (HFA) is reminding local graduates that they offer two scholarship opportunities, both of which come with a $1,000 reward towards their post-secondary education.
We spoke with two recent scholarship winners, Joyce Fox and Abbey Cocking, about growing up in Haldimand’s rural environment, and what they are doing with their scholarship funds.
Anyone interested in applying for the HFA’s $1,000 scholarship or the Dr. Ewen McMillan Memorial award can do so by requesting an application form via email to: haldimandfederation@gmail.com. Applications are due by June 30, 2023.
Abbey Cocking, recipient of HFA’s $1,000 scholarship, which stipulates that recipients must be attending a post-secondary program with an agricultural focus and is limited to OFA-registered families, is currently finishing up her final year in the Business Agriculture program at Algonquin College.
“I have always had a passion for agriculture and was never quite sure what I wanted to do; I chose the business agriculture program knowing I didn’t want to do the same thing every day. I love being on the farm, but I didn’t necessarily want to be a farmer. I decided to pursue a career in agriculture sales,” said Cocking.
Abbey Cocking
She said that winning the HFA scholarship helped her to be able to return home from her school near Ottawa on weekends to visit her family and grandpa while he was sick: “It gave me some security in being able to do so while still affording groceries and rent.”
Cocking’s family runs a beef and sheep operation located between Fisherville and Selkirk where they raise Belted Galloway cattle. She attended the 4-H Club from a young age, a constant presence in their beef calf club.
She has also worked for a couple local farmers since 2015 and still provides relief milking when home from school. She explained, “The most important thing I learned from the local farmers is to work hard – you have to prove yourself. I have made so many connections along the way and can’t wait to create many more as I continue my career.“
She offered advice for those interested in a career in agriculture, stating, “I recommend keeping an open mind and not to get discouraged. There are so many different jobs available in the industry that a lot of people have no idea about. There are hard labour jobs that need to be done, but there are also so many different components to the business side of things as well, jobs you’d never think of. An open mind, a happy attitude, and a willingness to learn are important qualities to have in the industry. The agriculture industry is forever changing and always advancing, so we have to be able to keep up with it.”
Cocking intends to support her local agricultural community however she can as a graduate, adding, “Family farms are starting to be a thing of the past and it is becoming very hard to keep them afloat farming full time. I will also be sure to always be a good advocate for agriculture and help get people the proper information about farming.”
She concluded, “I definitely would like to give a big thank you to everyone in the HFA for making this scholarship possible and supporting such an amazing industry.”
Joyce Fox grew up on a cash crop farm in Canfield, where she spent many long days helping her father tend to the farm’s operations. She reflected on how her upbringing has prepared her for life as a young adult.
“One of the things I’ve learned working in agriculture is resilience. I have the experience of waking up at 7 in the morning, going to work with my dad, and not getting home until 9 at night. You just work until you get the job done, that was the way I was raised,” said Fox.
She referred to the process of making a sheaf of wheat. “It takes a very long time to build a nice, presenting sheaf. You have to go out and get the wheat by hand, then you have to let it dry for two weeks, and then you have to organize it, build it, and then put it into the mold one-by-one. It really taught me a lot about how to be patient,” said Fox on just one of the many insights growing up on a farm afforded her. “Sometimes I would just want to go and get things done. It showed me the value of having to take your time to complete something.”
Joyce Fox
In addition to her busy home life, Fox is a veteran of the 4-H Club, where she received Junior and Senior Outstanding Leadership awards from Haldimand’s 4-H Association. She is now taking on the role of 4-H Ontario Ambassador for the year, which will bring her across the province to showcase everything the program has to offer. On promoting 4-H on a provincial scale, she said, “I’ll be able to go to different areas and speak with younger members about the different values of 4-H. It will be a lot of fun.” Read about her new role on Page 17.
Fox was awarded the HFA’s Dr. Ewen McMillan Memorial Award, which is open to any student who wishes to apply, regardless of their area of study, and awards a $1,000 scholarship to recipients. Fox is currently enrolled in her first year as a Commerce student at Queen’s University, with plans to attend law school and study agricultural law in the future.
“I was a little conflicted on what I wanted to do,” said Fox. “I always knew I wanted to go into law, but I didn’t know what I wanted to take beforehand. I feel like commerce is a good fit. I grew up on a family farm, so in case I wanted to help with the business, this could help with that.”
She saw the competitive enrollment process for the Commerce program as a challenge worth tackling, adding, “I wanted to see how well I could do. The Commerce program here offers many opportunities to pursue different aspects of business, so that if I decided not to go into law, I would still have a strong career path with lots of opportunities.”
Fox plans to spend some time working out of a large firm in Toronto to gain experience in the field first, but one day she plans to come back to Haldimand and “own my own firm, and help farmers in Haldimand as well as to share my experiences with others living in Haldimand County currently.”
She thanked the HFA: “I truly appreciate their scholarship, it’s allowed me to focus more on my schoolwork and my goal of pursuing other opportunities in order to further my experience outside of education. It’s a great opportunity for anybody who wants to apply.”
