Hi all,

          I'm 15, 16 this summer and im really into agriculture. My grandad used to be a dairy/beef/arable farmer but retired 9 years ago so i have no business to step into.

I leave school this year but whats the best way to get into agriculture- without being a farm labourer working for a low wage? Which direction should i be heading in- A Levels? Apprenticeships....? and after education what is the next step?

All Help is greatly appreciated, Many thanks, Will

Hey

 I am about the same age - i aint 16 till next spring though. I am planning on doing a NDA (national diploma in agriculture) and then going on to a degree in agriculture with business management - Thats the plan anyway. The NDA all you need is GCSE grades above a C, and if you get the NDA the degree course requires a merit merit and pass (I THINK) i think it just depends on the college or uni. If you are getting like A/B/C at GSCE, you will get into college and then if you complete you NDA well, you should get into Uni. Then with a degree you can be a consultant, farm manager/arable foreman/assitant farm manager etc etc. After education, companies like velcourt and sentry offer management training programmes.

Try these -

www.bishopb-college.ac.uk for NDA and apprenticips

For degrees click here

Also try connexions the career service thingy.

A levels seemed good but i want to do the NDA as its more specific and you get to leave school, live away if you want and learn more about ag than your science A levels.

what do you want to do in ag though? Livestock, arable, mixed?

Hope this helps.

Hey Matty. Thanks for reply. I applied to Bishop but turned it down coz it was nearly 5000quid living costs! So im gonna get a job then go i think.

I think what your saying is a good option- what annoys me though is how companys like DEFRA are always banging on about how the industry needs 'fresh young blood' but they dont provide the materials to help us get there !

Thanks :)

Well as you 16, you've got your whole life ahead of you... There's your whole life to work, so don't think you have to focus on work right now.... If your enjoying school, stay on for a year or two, then go to college or a uni, if not, college is fun (there's a few out there), you can get grants and everything for living and stuff, I payed just about a grand a yea full board, living in all meals everything, plus was recieveing ema, and so I actually got a free education and room and food basiclly. Be aware with apprentiships, despite the free education and everything, they do sort of own you for a few years and want you to work for them, or so i hear. You could travel or something if you like, I know its popular to go to New Zealand for about six months and work there, if it interests you. You could look to specilise in a certain area of the industry if you would like, I mean I do a bit more mechinisation and engineering, but what ever interests you and you enjoy, go for it.

As for helping to get started, If it's starting on your own, there are grants I think, maybe contact seeda, or look at their website.

 Hope some of that is of slight help, and good luck with your exams, and hope you sort something out... keep us posted.

Ever thought about a career in Farm management? Why don't you stay on at school, do your a-levels then do a hnd/degree in Agriculture? At most places if you choose hnd you can then opt to stay on an extra year to top up to a degree - or you can go elsewhere and top up to a degree. There are also opportunities in the agricultural industry as a whole - what about grain trading, farm trading, agronomy etc? - However if that doesn't interest you and it is grass roots farming you are interested in and you have no farm to go onto, farm management may be your best bet. 

However, i think your best bet at the moment would be to stay on at school and do your a-levels. You can always work at the weekends and during holidays to save money which could perhaps go towards paying for further education after school. Harvest jobs especially have the potential to earn a lot of money over a short period of time if you are prepared to put the hours in. I started by working at a Garden centre at weekends while i was doing my a-levels, then got a harvest job the summer before heading off to uni and had harvest jobs every summer until leaving, then got the job I am in now with a merchants.

If moneys a problem look at doing NDA at sparshoult collage near winchester as the tuition fee is 0 if you are under 18 also for the NDA course is ushaley pritey emptiy (when i was there there were 6 people on it) so you get lots of atention and you also do a lot of work for there far like working on the dairy in the pig unit ect as well they pay for you to do your ATV licance as well as your MO1 and your tellehandeler test as well as a few others. 

 Overall I would support what jdw7121 said.

What you want out of ag sounds like what I wanted at your age 

I wanted to be in agriculture, but there is no room for my back home, so I did A levels and went on to study Ag at uni. I am in my third year now, and my last exam is in two days time. I havent really looked back. Uni has been tough but very rewarding. I have secured a place with a farming company on their management training scheme.

 Hi Will,

I share your visible enthusiasm with reference to your career options in agriculture, in the same way I have been eager to pursue a career in the agricultural sector. There is a visible blockage in encouraging young people to pursue their careers in agriculture, markedly due to farm owners routinely passing farm ownership to family members, soon after retirement. It is therefore understandably problematic for new entrants to enter the agricultural profession.

The Government devised a scheme titled 'Fresh Starts' which seems to be ineffective and another irrelevant scheme supported by Whitehall to earn popular media attention, to demonstratably show that they are doing something effective in order to encourage young people to enter the profession. I think it is all talk and no action. The scheme offers minimal opportunities to young people from urban areas to contemplate a career in the agricultural farming sector.

As someone from an ethnic minority community, I want to enter the profession because it is my belief that there is a genuine lack of representation within farming at all levels of the profession. I, too, as another blogger on this website, am a 22 year old third year student at university studying International Politics/Relations and prefer a change in another direction. However, I think I would differ with Wilfred Emmanuel Jones, the self-described Black Farmer, who seeks to encourage people from black communities 'only' into the countryside, which he is entitled to do so.

 Feel free to reply.

 Thanks

 Mash

Mash

 That was interested reading! Your points are very right, if you are not from a family farm, it is hard to geting into agriculture as they generally are passed down. I watched W.E.J programme and what he was/is doing is great and i think there is a definate lack of people from ethnic minorities in the countryside in general not just farming.

Its great to see so many people enthusiastically wanting to get into agriculture and the schemes you have mentioned i have also looked into - and I must say, alot of them were from farming backgrounds to start with.

Hopefully, for yourself, and all of us who want to get into agriculture, there will be more oppurtunities to do so. There are often articles wanting ''new blood'' into farming but if we dont have help, how are we supposed to do this - especially people who ispire to own there own farm - I am sure most of us dont have a million or so stashed somewere.

I did once see this article which was about a lad who worked and became a partner with his boss opening a new enterprise, if i find it i will send a link - that was the only thing i could see where something/someone had encouraged someone into agriculture and had went out of there way to do so.

Look forward to hearing your responses.

Hi Matty,

Thank you for your productive post. The content of your post summarises the earlier points I made, with emphasis upon the need to bring younger and more enthusiastic people into this industry. My recommendation would be for this Government to frame an initiative founded upon a principle that seeks to ensure that is representation from all communities that make up the racial mosiac of this society, in the British agricultural sector. I am sure you would agree with me.

I myself was a participant at last summer's Wilfred Emmanuel Jones' young black farmers scholarship, primarily aimed at encouraging young people residing in urban Britain to judge whether the countryside could potentially become their home in the future. However, I was disappointed by the shortages in numbers from other communities, not primarily black young people. Although, indeed, it is highly commendable what Mr Wilfred Emmanuel Jones is doing in seeking to encourage people from his community to enter the countryside; there is far more he could have done to encourage people from other communities to enter agriculture. I substantiate this position based upon personal experience on the scheme. We have such a wide diverse mix of people in this country and we should encourage all of them- and not only a few - to consider emigrating to the British countryside. As far as I am concerned, I have always accepted the position that the British countryside has a significant amount to offer different communities, and many communities could bring new ideas and blood to the countryside.

I have stumbled over similar articles widely circulated on the world wide web, and more importantly in agricultural magazines, in which articles are published about the need for young people, and how the industry is in urgent need for younger blood. This contradicts the message emanating from Whitehall & agricultural bodies that there appears to be a national blockage for young people to enter the sector. The received a letter from a Minister explaining the need for young people to be enthusiastic, but that there are no places available in the industry. I felt insulted by the letter, but it clearly demonstrates that at the moment, there is minimal hope that things will alter until there is more funding available from central government to deal with how they will ensure young people can enter.

If you have any further articles, please feel free to insert them online for us to read.

 Thanks mate,

Mash

Hi Mash

I believe that anyone can be a farmer regardless of age, gender, class, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation - all that you need is land, ability, money and, most importantly, a customer for what you grow.

You can lay your hands on all of these.  The ability comes from education and work experience. The money can be borrowed from a bank if you have a business plan.  To get the land you need the right contacts and you will have to pay more money than your competitors.  Luckily the food and retail industries in the UK are culturally diverse and this may give you opportunities to access customers that other people may not be able to.

I started with a 1.5 acre allotment 18 years ago.  I have made a lot of sacrifices to create the business that I have today.  Farming is a mug's game but there will always be a long queue of mugs wanting to get into it.  Please don't suggest that the government should decide who farms the land (look how hungry Zimbabwe is at the moment).

 If you want something enough, you will almost certainly get it.  Good luck

 Hi Bedford,

Thanks for your reply. I agree with you that the government should not necessarily determine who should or should not farm, however, they could set out a clear framework and put forward ideas in order to assist the industry to encourage young people from all over the country to make that often smooth transition into the agricultural sector. The Government supported 'Fresh Start', the industry-led initiative which aimed to encourage new entrants into the industry by signposting sources of help and support, and by promoting farming as an attractive career option. I think this is the type of role they could play, however, they should not say "this farm belongs to Mr Smith and this belongs to this person". They should only be able to provide help up to an extent. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Marine, Landscape and Rural Affairs) and Minister for the South East), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Chatham & Aylesford, Labour) put it very eloquently, "Young people entering the farming industry have a strong future and are vital for the prosperity of the industry and the rural community."

The young people in the farming industry, too, could take a more proactive role in encouraging people to enter the sector, by speaking at fresher's faires and visiting universities to discuss opportunities available, as I have myself sought very hard to find a position in the sector without no avail. Not only in farming, but in the equine sector, food processing, horticulture, floristry, land-based technology, veterinary nursing and related disciplines. It could be that I have a degree in International Politics and therefore not the appropriate degree to enter the sector. I am not sure, perhaps you could shed some light on qualifications required.

Last summer, a young student ambassador from Royal Agricultural College explained to me that, they had received funding to bring young people from urban areas to visit the countryside, however, I have never been able to find much out about this particular project. There seems to be a genuine lack of publicity around it.

I apologise that this answer is so long, but I wanted to give bloggers all the information.

 Thanks

 Mash

"There is a visible blockage in encouraging young people to pursue their careers in agriculture, markedly due to farm owners routinely passing farm ownership to family members, soon after retirement."

I think that is a rather unfair comment. Farm owners own the farm and have the right to decide what they want to do with it, the same as you have the right to decide what it is you do with everything you own. More often than not it is passed onto a family member who has committed a lot of time and effort to working on the farm, so why shouldn't it be passed to them? I don't think it is blocking people from getting into the industry, if the farms came onto the market instead of being passed on the chances are a new person from outside the industry looking to get into agriculture, quite simply, wouldn't be able to afford it and it would probably be snapped up by the surrounding farmers/land owners. I do agree that it is very difficult to get into farming, but if you want it enough you will work hard enough to create an opportunity for yourself.