Attending last month’s Oxford Farming Conference provided much food for thought, particularly the Inspiring Farmers talk by Salih Hodzhov, chief operating officer at independent soft fruit grower WB Chambers Farms in Kent.

Having come to this country in 2001, he worked his way up to this senior position.

He had a refreshing take on the employment opportunities in front of us, which he shared with great passion, particularly in terms of getting younger people into farming.

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About the author

Oliver Scott

Oliver Scott is farms director at Bradford Estates, responsible for managing 2,000ha of its 4,800ha area on the Shropshire and Staffordshire border. Cropping includes winter barley, oilseed rape, winter wheat, spring beans, spring barley, maize, lettuce and potatoes across mainly sandy loam soils. Other enterprises include a sheep flock and a business-to-business seed company.

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Despite the long hours and isolated working, Salih encouraged us to look at the increasing amount of technology involved and use that as a way of promoting our work to our communities.

At a time when the pressures on our businesses may force us to look inwards, it is up to us all to offer educational visits and other opportunities for young people to get a taste for farming.

One way is to promote the increasing use of tech to students and school pupils to fire their imaginations, rather than going over the traditional work involved.

There is no getting away from the nature of our work, but without showing how we innovate we cannot hope to compete with other sectors.

Amid the challenging economic backdrop, now is the time for farmers to be looking to the future as our industry faces continual evolution and technological change.

We recently moved farming in-hand at Bradford Estates for the first time in 40 years on 1,800ha of the 4,900ha land holding, giving us the opportunity to advance new regenerative farming methods and technology from the outset.

The estate also has strong links with local education through a partnership with Harper Adams University.

Our MD, Alexander Newport, and his wife, Eliza, have also supported local schools by donating play equipment and meeting staff.

We have even taken our tractor to a local nursery to allow the very youngest minds in education to see up close how we work.

There is no doubt the next generations will farm in ways that take us to new places. Encouraging them to engage with the opportunities ahead will benefit us all.