Farmer Focus: More youths interested in farming at college
© Richard Stanton Another academic year has started at the local college where I work. I have spoken before about the enthusiasm of youth and how inspiring young people are, but I have noticed, this year more than any, how many young people want to go into farming.
The numbers have become a real headache, as there are so many students. I have been struggling to find classrooms big enough to fit the large class sizes. What a wonderful problem to have, though.
It leads me to think that the traditional outlook on agriculture as a genuine career is changing; I remember some of my high school teachers rubbishing the idea of a career in agriculture.
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This used to be a real frustration of mine, especially as all I wanted to do was stay at home with Dad and farm.
However, the encouragement to look at other avenues and work at the Environment Agency and NFU made me think about the public’s perception of farming.
Agriculture has so much to offer as a career, and jobs do not stop at the farm gate. Of course, the work on a farm is the primary role, but looking at the allied trades such as nutritionists, agronomists and/or sales, they all provide genuine career opportunities.
Farming’s importance to our rural communities is shown by all the people that are part of such businesses. How many shops, schools and sports clubs rely on families like these?
Yet the roles existing within agriculture are also changing. Allied trades have always been available; now these roles are evolving due to the introduction of technology, such as agricultural engineers. Often, a laptop is plugged into a tractor way before the spanners are pulled out.
For me, the advancement of technology shows the direction agriculture is heading. I can specifically see that artificial intelligence will become a complete game-changer for the industry, especially in the ability to analyse the masses of data from our enterprises.
It is obvious to me that we will need a conveyor belt of qualified young people to come in and programme, fix, run, and develop new technology, so that we can continue to meet the demands of the growing population.