FARMING needs to recruit 60,000 new entrants to the industry in the next decade if it is to maintain its current workforce.
The stark figures come from a report commissioned by the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE), which warned that farming must up its game to attract new blood at a time when competition with other industries will be fierce.
The report’s author Alan Spedding said: “Farming is perceived as weak in public relations and communication skills. It must get across to potential entrants that the industry is complex, technical, challenging and satisfying.
“The industry’s current recruitment and promotion efforts do not compare well with image building for competing careers in the armed forces, NHS, teaching, science, engineering and the motor retail business.
“Many of these groups are better resourced than farming ever could be so there is a real need to make up for this by putting more effort where there will be most impact and, most important, by working together across the industry disciplines.”
The report says that the NFU’s Why Young People Matter to Farming campaign, which was launched two years ago, has made a good start.
But it says the recruitment drive needs the agricultural industry as a whole – including farming, agricultural engineering, agricultural science and all the supporting businesses – to work together to promote the sector’s career potential.
Mr Spedding estimated that 6,000 new recruits are needed annually for the next decade to keep the agricultural workforce at its current levels. Around 1,000 each year would probably be in senior salaried management roles.
However, only 50%-70% of the new people needed are currently coming out of further and higher education and choosing a career in agriculture, meaning the targets are already being undershot.
The figure needed is actually less than 1% of the total pool of young people who will be available to work between now and 2020. RASE spokesman Denis Chamberlain said the report revealed a number of challenges that must be addressed as a matter of urgency.
He said: “Farming and its related sectors must work harder and work together to attract the numbers needed to ensure that one of the biggest and certainly one of the most vital industries in the UK maintains its ability to produce more food, manage the environment, produce renewable fuels and play a significant role in coping with climate change.”
Further young people, not counted in the 60,000 needed for the main business of agricultural, will also be required for support industries including agricultural engineering, crop and animal protection, veterinary and retailing.
The industry’s current recruitment efforts do not compare well with image- building for competing careers