New blood: what are your views on recruiting young people for agriculture?

Producing more food as well as some of our fuel and continuing to improve our landscapes, soils and wildlife are a huge challenge for the agricultural industry. The industry will have to achieve these goals for increasingly discriminating consumers in volatile world markets and against a background of, often unpredictable, climate change. We can do this only by recruiting the very best young people who can tackle the future with knowledge and imagination. This discussion starts with views from inside and outside the industry. We hope you will add your ideas to the discussion by emailing your views to membership@rase.org.uk

The aim of his project is to create a publication which stimulates debate on the issue of recruiting young people into the industry. For example, are we doing enough? Are we conveying an accurate image of modern agriculture? Does the message reach the audiences it needs to?

The project starts with two keynote articles, one from outside and one from inside the industry and continues with further contributions and thoughts as the project progresses. Your comments at any stage are invited.

Read on to find out what the following contributors have said:

Sir Mike Tomlinson, former Chief Inspector of Schools

Guy Smith, an Essex farmer and journalist

David Leaver, Emeritus Professor of the Royal Agricultural College

Richard Clarke, a graduate of Reading University

A view from outside

Alan Spedding met Sir Mike Tomlinson who was Chief Inspector of Schools and is currently Chief Adviser of London Challenge which aims to raise the standard of secondary education in London. He was also instrumental in devising and implementing the Year of Food and Farming. These notes summarise Sir Mike’s views about how farming can attract the very best people to face the challenge of the future.

Farming is complex, technical, challenging and satisfying

Agriculture is widely seen from outside as strong in problem-solving and the application of science and technology but weak in public relations and communication skills. It needs to fix its public face.

To attract recruits, the industry needs to get across a more comprehensive picture which covers its opportunities and problems in detail rather than simply focussing on the areas it is proud of. It needs to foster intelligent and informed discussion and not shy away from areas which are difficult to describe.

Intensive farming, in particular, needs explaining. Crop production can produce high yields using chemical fertilisers and pesticides without harming wildlife and polluting water but it needs careful handling of powerful products.... Most of our eggs and poultry meat come from housed systems which use precious grain very efficiently and work at high standards of hygiene and animal welfare... Outdoor poultry are difficult to manage, are costly to keep and also need careful management to ensure high standards of hygiene and welfare... and so on.

There is scope for discussion among students about what constitutes good animal welfare here and how it all fits in the world’s demand for food. It’s a discussion which is a bit more subtle than the anthropomorphic simplicities put forward by many animal welfare organisations.

The industry needs one respected channel to pass this information through to ensure that information is up to date, accurate and concise. This should be a role for FACE.

With the Year of Food and Farming putting the agriculture under the spotlight it is a good time to move the image of the industry forward.

Meeting society’s needs

The industry must show how it meets society’s needs – essential food, fuel, leisure, wildlife, landscape etc. People do not understand how technical farming is nowadays. Its people must be well qualified in knowledge and problem-solving skills to cope with important new challenges. Agriculture is not currently being put across like this.

Case studies are a good way of getting the complexities of real situations across.

Encourage school visits to farms and ongoing and deeper relationship between farms and schools. Some farms could almost become school farms.

Use the internet to get lots of information across and change and update it often.

Agriculture needs to counter limited-issue pressure groups better. They have an easier job seeming clear and decisive with only a few issues to talk about. Farming needs to cope with the challenge of being more holistic, bringing out more complex arguments and explain it all in the context of global issues.

Information needs to be targeted at three audiences, teachers, pupils, families (and friends) and they need to get information in different ways.

Understand new patterns of work

Young people going into work nowadays are not looking for a single career and pension. It has been said that the average twenty year old will change jobs six times. Agriculture needs to be able to offer jobs which fit in with these realities, by giving shorter term opportunities and by encouraging people to progress by developing the challenge in their jobs and through lifelong learning backed up by quality-assured records which can be recognised on their CVs.

Conditions of employment, especially housing, are very important. Pay often needs to be better, more in keeping with the responsibilities given and the skills needed. Involvement in business decision making also helps.

More focus should be on 11-14 year-olds – that is the stage at which they begin to think about what jobs they might want. After 14 years old information needs to get more specific as they focus in on the details. It’s important to get across the point that not just farmers’ kids become farmers.

A land-based and environmental Diploma for 14 and 16 year olds will be available from September 2009. It is vital that the industry plays a key role in determining the content and the land-based colleges lead on the plans for delivery in schools and colleges.

A farmer’s view

Guy Smith is an Essex farmer and journalist and was awarded the Society’s Outstanding Communicator Award in 2007. He has been a consistent and eloquent voice in putting forward a better image of farming and persuading his colleagues in the industry to do likewise. He is responsible for the Food, Farm and Countryside booklet project which provides positive literature to anyone in a position to hand it out to the non-farming public (300,000 have been distributed since 2006). He has also been instrumental in the FACE/NFU school packs that have gone out to 15,000 schools since its launch in autumn 2007 and the Essex Food and Farm schools day which seeks to give 3000 primary school children a day out to learn about food and farming.

Guy Smith writes...

There was a striking headline on a BBC web-site last summer. It went something like – “First low prices, then floods and now Foot and Mouth Disease. Is this the worst job in the world?” Of course the job in question was farming. My mental reaction was “Farming the worst job in the world? Don’t be ridiculous.”

I wouldn’t deny for a minute that farming as a job is not without its frustrations and its difficulties. The two things that largely dictate our fortunes, farm gate prices and the weather, are largely out of our hands. The other problem is that because over the last century we have got so clever and efficient at what we do then the corollary to that is that our industry is always losing farmers. In 1900 we were a profession of 400,000 and now some estimate we are well below 100,000 (although admittedly the figure is confused by part-time and hobby farmers). That means many of us work under the sword of Damocles thinking that this year may be our last. Also there is the knowledge that many of our neighbours have thrown in the towel.

Nonetheless, farming remains a great job that many outside the industry would love to have. As farmers we often get too wrapped up in our lives. We forget to count our blessings. I am sure that for most of us a month working in an inner city school or on a production line would do much to remind ourselves how lucky we are.

Of course the propensity of farmers to moan about their lot is as old as the hills themselves. It is part of our stereo-type. In one analysis this miserable reputation doesn’t do us any harm. Communal whingeing can be a good way to share one’s problems and thus cope with the ‘slings and arrows of outrageous fortune’ that farming sometimes hurls in our direction.

But in another analysis I think this nauseating tendency to self-pitying is deeply, deeply damaging to our industry. Not just because of the negative impact it has on ourselves but primarily it must do much to put off young blood from considering a career in agriculture.

When I see headlines like the one I mentioned at the outset of this piece or when I see farmers bemoaning their lot in the media I always think to myself: “What would the average seventeen to eighteen year old A level student make of this?” Would it encourage them to consider a career in agriculture? One suspects not. While it may be honest of farmers to flag up their troubles in public I would much rather be part of an industry known for its success stories rather than one that seems to be in permanent crisis.

If we present ourselves as a failing, basket-case, problematic industry then we should not be surprised then that in twenty years time we are peopled accordingly. If on the other hand we want to be staffed by dynamic, go-ahead, positive, can-do people then we would do well to suggest that today and tomorrow we are the sort of industry that can will make dynamic, go-ahead, positive, can-do youngsters feel they have found their calling.

When I am sometimes asked why I went into farming I always like to answer that I met a farmer who knew cheap family labour when he saw it. It’s not really true but I recognise that farming is dominated by the tradition of family succession and I am one such example. Despite this, the simple fact is that our industry also needs injections of blood from outside to keep it healthy. My father was of the view that one reason why farming was so successful in the post-war period was that the shake up of the war had meant that many from non-farming backgrounds chose to come into the industry. Suddenly people with backgrounds in engineering or surveying were found running farms. Even more disturbing, women from urban back-grounds, who had arrived on farms through the WLA, were having an impact on the management of farming. I am sure it was all very discomforting for the existing incumbents but I am also sure it was a very beneficial influx of new thinking and new influences.

And so I come to the crux of this piece (thank the lord for that I hear you cry). As farmers we must always try to see ourselves as other see us and not just as we would like to be seen. There are a number of good reasons for this but probably most important is the realisation that the way we project ourselves is key to attracting the brightest young boys and girls who are considering now what their chosen profession might be.

Finally I will leave you with one last anecdote which also illustrates this point. A couple of years ago I wandered into a tent at a county show. One half was run by the young farmers and the other half by a well know farming organisation. The latter dominated their area with large posters illustrating how many farmers had been lost to the industry in the previous decade. It was a fair point but, by golly, was it in the wrong place. It made me think of a parallel scenario. The British army suffers casualties every year. These losses are very serious affairs and should be the concern of many of us and those that govern us. But the point is that when I see British army recruitment posters I never see mention of the casualty lists, all I see are images of the army being a rewarding, exciting profession that recruits the most able. Although we don’t realise it, British farming has its own recruiting sergeants – it is the farmers themselves. It really is time we took this job a bit more seriously and thought about the image we project to the next generation. Farming has its problems but probably no more than other industries. Why then do we allow ourselves to be portrayed as a problematic, failing, industry?

A Viewpoint from David Leaver, Emeritus Professor of the Royal Agricultural College

A dynamic and competitive agricultural industry is needed to face the future challenges of food security and the industry will have to operate within the constraints required to satisfy the growing demands of environmental stewardship. For this we shall require producers who are progressive, entrepreneurial and have outstanding business management skills, and they will be supported by a highly skilled operational workforce. But whilst there are many good examples of good young people coming into the industry and making their mark, are there enough and do we have the organisation and infrastructure in place to sustain our industry in a competitive global market?

The Leitch Review looking at the long-term skill requirements of the country highlighted the problem of low productivity of UK industries compared with other countries, and emphasised that future productivity will increasingly be driven by the skills level of the workforce. UK agriculture also has a problem as it was in the premier league for growth of productivity until the mid- 1980’s, but since that time has lagged behind other countries such that we are now towards the bottom of the league . It is not too surprising therefore that this loss of competitiveness with other countries has been associated with a decline in self-sufficiency in food (that we can produce in this country) of over 1% per year during the last decade. There is a range of factors which have disadvantaged UK agriculture during this period, but one of the underlying factors is almost certainly the education and skills training of the workforce at all levels.

Tertiary education (further and higher education) holds the key to the future provision of outstanding young people for the industry. However we have been through a long period of decline in agricultural education provision with farm institutes and colleges switching to non-farming subjects, the loss of highly influential higher education (HE) colleges such as Wye College and Seale Hayne and loss of agriculture schools and departments within large universities.

However, the loss of provision in colleges and universities only reflects the decline in student demand. A recent ‘Review of provision for land-based studies’ carried out by the Higher Education Funding Council for England showed that whilst total student numbers in ‘land-based’ studies were about 12,000, only about 4,000 of these were studying agriculturally-related subjects. This means that only about 1300 students are graduating each year with agriculturally-related degrees. Although this review was for England only, when it is set against the UK totals of 344,000 full- and part-time farmers, partners, directors and spouses plus 15,000 salaried managers and 107,000 full- and part-time workers in the industry, it provides a disappointing indication of the new-blood potential of the industry. This analysis of degree-level provision is however in line with the existing educational background of those in the industry. The recent Defra review of ‘Agriculture in the UK 2007’ shows that only 12% of farmers and managers have been through full-time agricultural training.

When young people are planning a career and looking at alternatives, the job market is no different from any other market place, and agriculture will only attract good young people if there is seen to be an attractive career available for them. This was emphasised in the recent Viewpoint articles by Sir Mike Tomlinson and Guy Smith. The agricultural industry which has been under great pressure for the last decade has almost inevitably sent out negative messages that will have influenced potential students, parents and school career advisers as well as farmers’ sons and daughters against future careers in agriculture. Nevertheless this is changing, and increasingly we are seeing an approach to marketing by the industry as Guy Smith advocated in his article, of taking on board the line from Robert Burns ’to see ourselves as others see us’.

For many young people agriculture is seen as being not particularly well paid, involving hard physical work and unsocial hours. These negative images of agricultural work are no longer a true reflection of many farm situations, and the best counter to such criticisms is to demonstrate what really happens on progressive farms, and promote strongly the positives of being involved with agricultural work.

One career attraction, particularly for the 45% of young people who go through higher education is for their chosen path to be both respected and professionally recognised. It is hoped therefore that the present discussions taking place in the industry regarding professional recognition combined with a coordinated continuing professional development programme are not allowed to founder due to disinterest and lack of vision about the future.

If we genuinely wish to reverse the downward trend in agricultural productivity and competitiveness we need to both attract outstanding young people into the industry, as well as put greater emphasis on the need for continuing skills training for those already in the industry. It must be remembered that the vast majority of those who will be working in the industry over the next 30 years have already left formal education.

The recent publicity given to the global imbalance of food supply and demand will lead to food security being higher on the national agenda and agricultural productivity and competitiveness will become much higher priorities. This in itself will send out some of the positive messages about the future of the industry needed to attract young people to careers in agriculture.

To bring about change however, requires leadership from the industry, from educational providers and from government, and the need to improve agricultural productivity and competitiveness must be the driver for this change. We need to see:

• The industry marketing itself positively, promoting not only its future importance to the country’s food supply and environmental stewardship, but also its requirement for highly motivated people with high levels of skill at all levels.
• Colleges and universities working in close coordination with the industry to develop and promote courses that will be relevant in this new and challenging era of the global marketplace and emphasising the importance of land-use to food and energy supplies. This should be aimed not only at young people, but also at providing training opportunities for those in work.
• Government providing the necessary impetus and incentives for educational institutions to follow this path. In addition, innovation and R&D are essential components of a progressive industry, and there is a need for a complete reappraisal by government of their policies for support of agricultural R&D.

David Leaver, 29 May 2008

New Blood – a contribution to the discussion from Richard Clarke

Richard Clarke is a graduate of Reading University. His career has included 20 years working as Farm Manager of a livestock and arable farm in Berkshire and a similar period in farm consultancy work. Richard is currently Chairman of Waldersey Farms Ltd, a large scale arable operation in East Anglia and Vice Chairman of the Institute of Agricultural Management.

As a young boy I wanted to be a farmer. I lived with my grandparents in Suffolk where my grandfather was a farm worker. Even after we’d moved away, going back to stay with him during school holidays was all I wanted. Consequently, it felt like a natural progression for me to go from grammar school to Reading and read Agriculture. All those hours spent on a Suffolk farm made me ignore the warnings from my school careers master and others about how poor salaries were in farming.

Since university, I have been exceedingly fortunate in having a most satisfying, challenging and exciting career in the industry. And despite some difficult times I can say that I always looked forward to and enjoyed my work. In this I do not believe I am alone. Most farmers and farm workers I know relish their work and thrive on it. They truly enjoy what they do.

But why? Why precisely are there a whole load of farmers and farm workers out there who love their jobs and would never consider doing anything different? In my view it is the answer to this question which will provide the key to encouraging more young people into farming. This is the message we want to get across to those young people, this is the perception of farming and farmers we want them to have.

So here is the answer you will get from all these dedicated men and women in farming, all with their own variations but the theme is the same:

• Because farmers work outdoors, they grow crops and look after their animals. They produce the food we eat. They deal on a daily basis with the weather, care for and look after their animals, with machinery, equipment and technology, grappling with new developments and all the problems and solutions these bring.
• Farming is a practical, hands on job with heaps of variety. It doesn’t involve sitting in an office all day, no 9 to 5 urban grind. It’s about watching and learning from year to year, tuning in to seasonal differences. And to be a decent farmer you have to have concerns for the environment, for animal welfare and for wildlife all uppermost in mind.

Such an answer, conveyed loudly and convincingly to young people, may begin to counter the negative image so often presented by the media and by farmers themselves.

So the message is that working in agriculture is satisfying, rewarding, enjoyable, has an identifiable career structure and has lots of plus factors against urban or industrial alternatives.

Traditionally farming was a low pay sector. Well things have moved on and we now have a much reduced work force utilising advanced equipment and facilities generating outputs per capita which compare favourably with industrial counterparts. Remuneration in farming is now reflecting the skills and expertise of the workers. What’s more, the normal forces of supply and demand are playing their part – the reality now is of an industry which may be limited in its production capabilities by the availability of skilled workers. The low pay myth needs to be laid to rest.

I believe public perception of farming may not be quite as poor as many in the industry feel and moreover I see signs of this perception changing. There is a large section of the population who understand rural and farming matters and who are sympathetic to and supportive of the farming sector. They and many, many others are becoming increasingly aware of the way major retailers have managed to keep food prices down for the British public by squeezing farmers and growers. All this with the open support of a government which appears to value price more than provenance.

But our world is changing. Food supply has become a huge global issue, in but a few months we have seen the era of cheap food recede. For some in the world even the availability of basic commodities has become critical. Suddenly farming and issues of food production are being recognised as of vital importance.

So timing on the issue of attracting new entrants is good, there is a window of opportunity to set the record straight and start to bring in the new blood on which the future of the farming depends.

Let us be clear that there is no “quick fix” to bringing bright and energetic young people in to the industry, the process must be long term, well planned and co-ordinated with strong and effective management.

The starting point is in schools, giving the youngest age groups a basic understanding of farming and food production and thereafter to build upon this. Current initiatives which are underway are excellent, to maximise effect and benefit they need “champions” locally who lead and promote as Guy Smith has done in Essex. Any activities which bring the general public on to farms all helps the understanding process, farm open days are invariably a success (with or without help from the weather) and of course are well attended by parents with their children.

The farming industry is fortunate in having a highly competent resource in terms of Agricultural Colleges, Universities and Training Agencies which are well placed and capable to provide learning and skills for new entrants at all levels. The planned land-based and environmental Diploma for 14 to 16 year olds is in prospect an excellent introduction for those with a view to joining the industry.

To be successful the process needs to have farmer leadership and be driven by farmers to create, throughout the industry, a culture of learning and skills, the NFU is the body through its membership to provide the necessary structure. Funding will be required but the industry should not wait for government funding rather push on and show a belief in the future. I have no doubt given the importance of this project both public and charitable funds will be forthcoming to finance the costs involved.

Young people entering the industry at whatever level need to have a view of career progression, a difficult matter for an industry made up of many relatively small businesses. Ongoing learning and skills training is essential in order to utilise rapidly advancing technology and processes, to maintain quality and assurance and not least to maintain the financial efficiency of the business. Improving knowledge and skills means more profit!

The logical route to take this forward seems to be by way of farmer groups within an area who determine their requirements and priorities which will probably be “on farm” focus for training. If the structure is in place it is a small step to formalise the training to a record of learning and development. Sector Bodies from the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Boards should play a key role in the process, much of the training will be sector based, the Boards have the structure and are in a position to influence.

For those leaving Universities and Higher Education Colleges with aspirations to management positions there is currently something of a professional vacuum. Other professionals know their route is into their Professional Body but such an organisation does not exist in agriculture. The Institute of Agricultural Management with a number of like-minded bodies are seeking to remedy this by setting up a Professional Body for Agriculture with the objective of promoting excellence in agriculture and land based stewardship and business development through personal development. The vision of PBA is the development of the professional image for the industry and promoting the integrity of British agriculture. Individual members would be expected to be far-sighted and demonstrate leadership within farming and associated agricultural industries. For avoidance of doubt let me emphasise this is intended as an inclusive organisation which while supporting formal qualifications is also aware some of our best farmers left school at an early age, perhaps this group is the best example of life long learning!

To summarise:

• There is a window of opportunity
• The Industry must be proactive and positive in communication, actively set out to create a new image
• Farming is a success story, being involved is satisfying and rewarding
• Recruitment requires a focus on schools, the teachers and the children from an early age
• To achieve objectives will require Leadership and Organisation
• Farmers should provide the Leadership
• Education and Training Bodies are in place to facilitate implementation
• Recognition of Career structures and Continued Learning and Development should be recognised and become the norm in the industry

R M Clarke
29 May 2008