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 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."           

As a young person, Gitzel has had entrepreneurial ventures, such as producing and selling honey and other products at farmers markets.

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.