Bridgette Baker: Career decisions suddenly looming

I have begun my final year at university, which means if life didn’t feel serious before, it certainly does now.

The question that keeps cropping up in conversation is: What are your plans for after university?

I used to think answering this question would be easy, My plan since second-year college was to come home to the family beef and arable farm and take more responsibility with our cattle, outdoor-reared pigs, and direct meat sales.

See also: Bridgette Baker: Sleep, show up – and remember your penknife

Now, being fortunate to come away from this spring/summer with two amazing university work experience periods in tractor driving and agricultural journalism, and meeting great people in their field of work, I am not so sure anymore on plan A.

The work experience opportunities that colleges and universities give are of huge value, providing a rare chance to try a job for an agreed time period.

About the author

Bridgette Baker

Somerset young farmer Bridgette Baker hails from a mixed beef and arable farm near Yeovil, and studies agriculture at the Royal Agricultural University. An enthusiastic member of her local Young Farmers Club, Bridgette keeps her own Oxford Sandy and Black pigs and works her family’s farm rearing calves.

Read more articles by Bridgette Baker

The more effort you put in, the more you get out of your time there. And given you have to leave whether you loved the job or hated it, there are no strings attached.

My second incredible placement opportunity this summer was working at an agricultural media and PR company part-time, as well as grain carting at home.

I learned a lot about journalism, and also that my phone anxiety is awful – a Millennial problem in this age of texting.

I have been interested in this line of work since secondary school, and now the placement has given me a flavour of what it involves, I’d definitely like to explore this further as a strand of my career.

Then there is travelling. People highly recommend going away to see the world and often ask if I have considered it, which I haven’t as I love my home county of Somerset.

My family are supportive of anything I decide to do, so they would help and encourage me if I did decide to have a spell abroad.

I hope other young farmers feel the same as me, having many avenues they could go down in life. In agriculture, the possibilities and job roles are bountiful. I wish I could do them all.

For now, though, my answer to the question is: I will focus and get through my third year of uni, then most likely I won’t put all my eggs in one basket.