Video: Writtle College campaigns to attract new entrants

Secondary-school pupils are being targeted as part of a drive to attract young people to choose careers in agriculture.

The campaign, led by Writtle College, a partner of the University of Essex, aims to improve the appeal of agriculture to a younger audience.

It aims to tackle stereotypes of working in the food and farming the sector and explain the impact agriculture has on our world.

See also: Drive to inspire young people to choose farming career

Organisations including agriculture skills council Lantra, Bright Crop, Essex Young Farmers and Essex Agricultural Society are supporting the campaign.

“The purpose of this campaign is to try and explain agriculture in a way that the younger generation will listen to and encourage them to consider a career within this field,” said Craig Emery, marketing manager at Writtle College.

“There are many different pathways for people from many different backgrounds and that’s the message we are trying to get across.

“People may assume that you need to be from a farming background to do well at agriculture, and I think these are the types of barriers we are trying to overcome.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATd4nnfUKbk

Dan Corlett of Farming and Countryside Education (Face), the charity behind Bright Crop, said: “Bright Crop’s research showed how 96% of young people wouldn’t consider a career in agriculture.

“The main reason being that they simply aren’t aware of the diversity of roles, the scale of the industry, or the career potential.”

To support the drive, Writtle College has published a video (see above) on YouTube, which presents farming as “dynamic, highly professional, and above all – vital industry to our world”.

The launch of this campaign is the start of an online #WrittleFutures campaign by Writtle College which aims to raise awareness of careers within the land-based sector.