Teenagers see farming as one of the least appealing career paths available - that's the conclusion of a new survey.

But what would you tell them to convince them otherwise? What makes farming the opposite of boring? What are your favourite bits/the most exciting bits/the bits to boast about?

Some teens (the few who fit a stereotype ad make good headlines anyway) think anything is boring. With such a tiny percentage of the workforce employed in agriculture, we only need a tiny percentage of teens who are passionate about farming, and there are plenty of them.

When I go into a primary school with a tractor, there are very few pre-teens who aren't excited by the chance to sit in it!

most teens need a swift boot in the backside, handed a shovel and told to use it.

 

glasshouse:

handed a shovel and told to use it.

 

The worst few are beyond that, and just need a conk over the head with it.  The best few already know, and 99% of the teenage population are somewhere in between, but no-one ever made the headlines for being average.

not all of them ;)

It is at times like any job but I have never had to days the same

Well for me I see it as the most appealing future career path for me and I hope it's where my future lays. But these days there aren't many farms willing to give a young person a chance to have a go or learn, to entice them in to farming future. As well as having some "public figures" make comments which turn people who want to go in to farming away from it.

Question has to be........... "Are there still enough coming through though??"

henarar:

It is at times like any job but I have never had to days the same

true, everyday is different.

and everyday is a school day when you are farming.

Err, arable farming is pretty boring.

A friend of mine says "plant, weed, harvest, repeat, die" about sums it up. 3 months busy. 9 months watching grass grow. Plus terrible UK weather. For no money. With little chance of ever having your own place - rubbish FBTs, grandparents who wont die, etc.

Some enjoy the lifestyle, but its hard to do that with an immense overdraft whilst dragging the tractor out of a field where the rain has ruined your harvest again. 

As a career option, you would be far better off going and making your millions elsewhere, then using them to buy a farm later on. 

I am affraid i just dont believe the jobs exsist.

As a teenager working in farming at home I want to get some qualifications while still in work, I am looking at an NVQ which would work with my job rather than teaching me knew things and Im not sure that it would be enough? A BSC degree is too involved and would not allow me to carry on working but I think that a part time diploma would allow for work and give me more experience outside of home?

This is purely from looking at prospectus's does anyone have any suggestions or knowledge of which would be best?

I have always wanted to work outdoors and always had an interest in farming, trying to persuade my parents to let me start a Agriculture apprenticeship was hard. Trying to find a farmer willing to take me on was even harder i tried for months to find a placement and found nowhere, i was very lucky to get an offer from a local farmer who farms 3000 acres and owns 10 John Deeres. I still have to look for a job after my apprenticeship cause there wont be a full time job where i am now. Im not surprised people arent interested in farming cause its very hard to find somewhere to work and the long hours might put people off. But the way i see it is the more people who wanted a job in farming would make it harder for me to find a job.

Sorry to bump this back up, i came across it and thought i'd just add my input...

Considering i'm only 15.. (Well, i will be in less than 24 hours time but anyway...) i have to put up with a bunch of other teenagers on a daily basis, and i believe the reason everybody sees agriculture as "boring" or "least appealing" is simply the way the industry comes across to teenagers these days... They all have a vision in their head of "farmer jiles" driving round 'arvesting his "tateys" on his ol' ferguson wearing wellies and chewing straw. Others my age seem astonished when i tell them of Climate control, emissions controls on engines, minimising overlap in cultivations to keep fuel costs down, headland management systems, fertiliser rates and preventing run-off into water sources, and most of all... Tractors that drive themselves! So i guess what i'm trying to say is the younger generation today seem misinformed about the various resources available to us, and especially young people. Another thing is everything today is about "image" and i do also think that's part of the reason, being "embarrased" to be seen on a tractor by their mates because that's so "uncool". I've been in farming since i was about 7 i think, so i'll be coming up to my 8th harvest season where i've been involved in some way. And amazingly the only thing i've actually found boring was doing 4 times round the headlands on a 30 acre field with the powerharrow and press, finding it repititive backing into the corners at the end of every run when all i was really thinking about was my belly which needed filling and so i wanted to be getting on not reversing up . Everything else i love, especially those days out in the sunshine where everything's going right and the machinery is running well, well apart from those times where something's given up the ghost and you've got various parts strewn across the workshop and then the dealer hasnt got the part you want... Well, that's the end of my lecture.

there are so few kids that get the chance to be brought up on farms nowadays, its just ignorance that makes them think its boring

glasshouse:

there are so few kids that get the chance to be brought up on farms nowadays, its just ignorance that makes them think its boring

What worries me is that it is a cultured ignorance.  A science teacher at our local comprehensive school is so miss-informed that my daughter says it isn't worth trying to correct her.  She slates farmers at every opportunity and thinks cows are spun  on a round platform to make them milk then they are returned to their crate so as not to waste energy moving!  Chickens she thinks are still kept in such small cages that they can't turn around to "bite" their eggs.  Farming comes up in the curriculum when carbon emissions are discussed and you've guessed it, we are the bad guys.  The geography teachers are better, just 10 years out of date. 

Watching husband and daughter working out how to get the fert spreader and sprayer to have their application pattern (not sure of the terminology) recorded on the toughbook was fascinating.  He started on a grey fergie and now, there they are soldering diodes and resistors onto boards.  Her idea after he discovered a wet thumb did the trick. 

There is so much more to farming than flat caps and SH 1 T.

BrownCow:

flat caps and SH 1 T.

I think at one time farmers were looked up to now thats about all they think we are

Mind you I wear a flat cap. and as for the 1T?

henarar:

and as for the 1T?

Make it 2, no sugar for me!

BrownCow:

Watching husband and daughter working out how to get the fert spreader and sprayer to have their application pattern (not sure of the terminology) recorded on the toughbook was fascinating.  He started on a grey fergie and now, there they are soldering diodes and resistors onto boards.  Her idea after he discovered a wet thumb did the trick. 

Sorry Browncow, but you've really lost me now. What on earth are you on about ?

welshnwilling:

Sorry Browncow, but you've really lost me now. What on earth are you on about ?

Farming has got a lot more technical now.  Against popular belief I think there is plenty to appeal to youngsters in farming if they just knew what was involved in being a modern farmer or involved with farming in some aspect. 

Or,

Not soldering circuit boards onto fergie but adjusting hardware in the cab of the new tractor.  As the tractor pauses briefly outside the office it links to the printer which prints out a record of the chemical, rate, OS reference and field map.  It took a wet thumb somewhere to discover how to make the onboard computer recognise when the sprayer or spreader was actually spraying or spreading not just moving.

Better? 

BrownCow:

Farming has got a lot more technical now.  Against popular belief I think there is plenty to appeal to youngsters in farming if they just knew what was involved in being a modern farmer or involved with farming in some aspect. 

Browncow, I got the gist of the first bit.

BrownCow:

Not soldering circuit boards onto fergie but adjusting hardware in the cab of the new tractor.  As the tractor pauses briefly outside the office it links to the printer which prints out a record of the chemical, rate, OS reference and field map.  It took a wet thumb somewhere to discover how to make the onboard computer recognise when the sprayer or spreader was actually spraying or spreading not just moving.

As for the technical stuff, well let's just say that you must be a hell of a lot more advanced in South Wales than we are up here.

I have variable rate speading on my 3075 for the ferti spreader now can you get it to print out the ap map for this as you drive past the office

Or like me did you look out the back of the tractor only to see that all that money was running out to fast so used the V R S or is that the dynashift to go faster cos I cant really afford the ferti anyway and like to cover a good few acres with a bag it will give a bit of a greening then when I get back to the office kitchen table and use the pen ap to down load the results of my explots for the day to my diary

most teens want to know how much ££££ they are getting by the end of the day.

and when are they going to get their hands on that big old tractor, when they have no knowledge how to drive one.

 When you tell them you be doing an great favour to muck the stable out or check the animals for being born, they are quickly soon on their phones and give you that excuse that an emergency has come up and soon gone.

A young lad I know wanted to work here mucking out sheds any hand work that was going

Anyway I rang up to see where we stood as he was still at school and I couldnt do cos if anything had gone wrong I would have been strung up

I thought if they were 15 or under you could get a form from the council for the parents to sign and then you were ok.