Think tank calls for help on new entrants
An industry think tank is urging everyone to respond to a consultation on how to encourage young people into the farming and food sector.
The Future of Farming review, launched by farm minister David Heath at the Oxford Farming Conference in January, is calling on interested parties to explain the barriers to entry and raise ideas about how to overcome them.
Review chairman, David Fursdon said: “We want to make sure that everybody who’s interested in putting forward their views gets a chance to do so.”
The consultation is due to close on 5 April, after which the board will further pursue the most valuable ideas.
“The subject of new entrants has been raised at every farmers’ meeting for the past 10 years, but with the farm minister and DEFRA behind this, there are greater opportunities to make recommendations, and highlight practical things which might make a difference,” said Mr Fursdon.
“One of our strong intentions is not to reinvent the wheel – there are myriad small schemes in place, to try and encourage people into the industry – we want to pull all those strands together.”
David Fursdon
He wanted to explore how to project the right image of farming to school children, and ensure agricultural colleges attracted bright students for the future. Practical help to then get into farming, whether through tenancies, share farming, tax breaks or working for others, was also needed, he added.
“One of our strong intentions is not to reinvent the wheel – there are myriad small schemes in place, to try and encourage people into the industry – we want to pull all those strands together.”
However, DEFRA did not have any funding available to take any recommendations forward, warned Mr Fursdon. “We’re going to have to be clever – with recommendations that don’t have a net cost or that the industry thinks are important enough to put money into.”
Examples could be easing legislative barriers to entry, or freeing up finance through security schemes.
“We’re really committed to getting good, positive, and able people into the industry. If we are going to feed the world, we need people who can rise to that challenge. Farming needs to be a career of choice – something that people are excited by, not one that they just fall into.”
You can contribute to the review at DEFRA’s website
Join our forum conversation on encouraging new entrants into farming
See our Farmers Apprentice campaign