The recipient of this year’s British Society of Animal Science (BSAS) Sir John Hammond Award is Dr Jude Capper - with the winner announced during the final day of the BSAS annual conference held 12-15 April.
The prestigious Sir John Hammond award, which was re-launched earlier this year in collaboration with the British Cattle Breeders Club (BCBC) and with a new trophy presented by The Smithfield Forum, is based solely on nominations and is awarded to those who have made significant contribution through research, teaching, knowledge exchange, breeding, farming industry or affiliated professions. This is BSAS’s first ever joint award with the BCBC, which Sir John Hammond founded in 1946. The club aims to improve the breeding of livestock, by promoting knowledge through collecting, collating, and distributing available information and data of practical and scientific interest, to breeders of cattle at home and overseas.
Dr Jude Capper receiving the Sir John Hammond Award and a trophy presented by The Smithfield Forum
Jude is an independent Livestock Sustainability Consultant based in Oxfordshire and her research focuses on modelling the sustainability of livestock production systems, specifically dairy and beef. She is currently working on projects relating to on-farm greenhouse gas emissions from UK beef production; climate footprints of smallholder farming; the impacts of livestock health and welfare on system sustainability; and technology use in South American beef production. Her professional goal is to communicate the importance of factors affecting livestock industry sustainability to enhance the knowledge and understanding of food production stakeholders from the farmer through to the retailer, policy-maker and consumer. She sits on the National Beef Association board; is Chair of the Route Panel for Agriculture, Environment and Animal Care and Vice-Chair of the Green Apprenticeships Advisory Panel at the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.
The award was presented during the final day of the recent BSAS annual 2021 conference by BSAS President, Professor Michael Lee, who commented: ‘Dr Capper has played a significant role in promoting the understanding of sustainable livestock production, building on her research conducted in the USA and the UK. Jude is also helping the next generation of agriculturalists, through her activities in supporting the development of apprenticeships and her contributions to other national industry bodies. Jude has made an enormous contribution to understanding the role of livestock as part of a sustainable food system over the years and the awarding of the Sir John Hammond Memorial Prize demonstrates BSAS’ appreciation and recognition of all she has accomplished.’
On receiving the trophy, kindly presented on behalf of The Smithfield Forum, Dr Capper said: ‘I am truly humbled to be considered worthy of receiving the Sir John Hammond award. This is an amazing honour - I will do my very best to live up to the excellence exemplified by previous winners, and to continue serving the British food and farming industry that I know and love.’