Initiative aims to get more young people into industry
Jobfarm Scotland, a new initiative aimed at raising awareness of agriculture as a career and highlighting the opportunities for work and education for young people within the farming and food sector was launched this week.
With the recent agricultural champion’s report calling for efforts to be made to raise the industry’s profile in the job market, the project has been organised as the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) presidential project.
The Society said that attracting new people into the industry had always been problematic, but with official statistics showing that the average age of a UK farmer had risen to 60 – with succession planning topping the list of challenges facing family-run farms – the need for renewal had never been greater.
This year’s president of the RHASS, Sir Crispin Agnew, said that Jobfarm aimed to reverse the current trend and make Scottish farming and rural industries a more visible career option which offered attractive modern work opportunities for young Scots.
He said: “In this Year of Young People, RHASS is launching Jobfarm Scotland to raise awareness
0 Various rural jobs are being highlighted by the scheme of these opportunities in the agricultural, food and rural industries.
“Jobfarm will provide details of work experience opportunities that are available and exclusive to Jobfarm. At present they are only for the Lothians but the intention is to extend it nationally.
“A few generations ago everyone would have had a personal connection with agriculture, but with an increasingly urban population this connection has been lost. Jobfarm aims to raise awareness for everyone of the brilliant jobs and careers that are available in farming, food and the rural industries.”
He said that interesting and rewarding work and careers were available to those with or without qualifications, whether school leavers or college or university graduates, and could also lead to gaining new qualifications.
It is hoped that Jobfarm’s website (www. jobfarm.org) and social media presence will introduce young people aged 16 upwards to a host of farms and employers who offer short-term work experience roles in agriculture, food production and related rural industries. The website also hosts videos featuring young people working in the sector.
Agnew said that a young woman from the 16-26 “job decision” age group had been employed to make the videos and to promote the campaign through social media such as Snapchat, vlogging, blogging, Facebook and other platforms, adding that it was also planned to develop an app for the initiative.