Career Opportunities On the Land
A report on today’s Radio Four programme Farming Today drew attention to the large number of vacancies in farming and agriculture. According to the Sector Skills Council 31% of agricultural vacancies are due to a shortage of skilled workers, compared to an average of 21% in other industries.
From a career professionals perspective this is a surprising statistic. We see so many people who wish their careers to be of greater benefit to the environment; and there are so many environmental and organic initiatives currently being undertaken in agriculture that one might have imagined that farming was a natural route for many of these career changers to have chosen.
The fact that many people do not chose to work on the land is the result of complex factors. Firstly, agricultural wages are low and the opportunities to be a self employed famer are limited unless one has significant capital. Secondly, there is a perception that farming is a fraternity which tends to exclude outsiders; this may not be strictly true but it is how many people see it. Thirdly, the domestic agricultural market has contracted significantly; there is not much money to be made in farming (as opposed to using land for leisure activities) these days. But most importantly, there is what one can only term urban blindness to rural industries.
Most career changers were brought up in cities and educated into an urban economy. They are scarcely aware of farming as a career option, and even less willing to consider it. Which is a pity because it meets so many environmentally sustainable goals.
At the end of the day, as with all professions, agriculture will have to sell itself to career changers, it will remain largely invisible until it does. But there is a real opportunity here for those who want to do something environmentally positive, who are not afraid of hard work and who can think beyond the city.
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