A farm girl from Graysville is the only Manitoban this year to receive one of the prestigious annual Canadian Agri-Business Education Foundation Scholarships.

Bailey Gitzel, 18, is of six Canadians entering post-secondary education in agriculture to win the scholarship, valued at $2500.              

As a young person, Gitzel has had entrepreneurial ventures, such as producing and selling honey and other products at farmers markets. (Photo courtesy of Bailey Gitzel)

As part of her application for the scholarship, Gitzel wrote an essay about opportunities in agriculture that she finds inspiring.

"I (wrote) a lot about agriculture technology and how that has opened so many doors within agriculture... and how it's also created so many jobs," Gitzel says. "In agriculture nowadays, it's not just a farmer, it's biologists, genetic engineers, chemists, agronomists, vets — I can't name them all because the list will just keep on going."

Gitzel, who has had many entrepreneurial ventures as a young person, producing and selling honey, says she found her passion in agriculture through growing up in rural Manitoba.

"It's definitely given me a different experience in life," she says. "Being on the farm I got to always be around my animals, I got to have horses, chickens. I got to explore my passions, really. Living in the city, you wouldn't be able to say, 'Hmm, I kind of want to start beekeeping,' and then buy a whole bunch of hives and start a beekeeping business."

Gitzel says the scholarship will be a big help in paying for her post-secondary education, as she pursues studies plant biotechnology at the University of Manitoba.