Writing competition: ‘What I wish I’d known at 18-years-old’

Experience counts for a lot in farming, so our new writing competition is inviting you to tell us what you wish you’d known as an 18-year-old.

It doesn’t matter what age you are now – regardless of whether you are 21 or 30 or even 99, we would like you to capture, in 500 words or less, a sense of what you have learned along the way and how it might have benefited you to have known it back then.

It could relate to practical farming, education or careers. It might be how a mindset, a pithy saying, a bit of practical advice – or simply how you approach life.

See also: 25 pieces of advice for a 25-year-old farmer

It can be upbeat, thought-provoking, sad or instructive – or maybe even a mix of all these. Whatever you’d like to share with your farming peers, we would love to hear your insights and pearls of wisdom.

Entering is easy – just upload your words and photo to our writing competition page, where other FWi readers will be able to check it out, and we’ll publish a selection of our favourites in the magazine and online after the closing date on Sunday 16 May at 11.59pm.

So tell us what you have come to realise about agriculture, people and the world – and why you might have wanted to have understood this as an 18-year-old.

It could be a case of when you put up a new shed, you should always make it 50% bigger than you think you’ll need it to be, or perhaps that you should have spent more time with your grandparents – tell us and explain why.

Your words will quite possibly prove invaluable to other Farmers Weekly readers – to those, perhaps, who right now are lin the same situation you were back then.

Experience matters – so why not take a few minutes to share a little of yours. Good luck.