Innovative routes into farming are going to have to be found if the record numbers of young people wanting to make a career in the industry are not to have their ambitions frustrated, says the NFU.
Delegates at next week’s NFU Tenant Farmers' Conference will be told that the number of students on agricultural courses at Harper Adams University College is at a ten-year high.
However, a combination of county council smallholding dispersals and demand for additional land from existing farmers is making it increasingly difficult for would-be new entrants to find tenanted land.
Among the guests at the conference will be a number of current agriculture students from Harper Adams University College, invited to attend as representatives of the next generation of farmers, who will have a vested interest in the discussions that take place.
NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said: “The solutions do not just lie in a re-think on county farm sales. The industry itself has a responsibility to help carve out opportunities for the new entrants that we need.
“That could mean, for example, owner-occupiers who are planning to give up active farming but keep their land in sustainable agricultural production could consider committed would-be new entrants in their locality.
“We also need fiscal and regulatory frameworks that encourage the letting of land, rather than – as is all too often the case at the moment – making it more difficult.”
The NFU Tenant Farmers' Conference 2011 is being held on November 10 at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire. Entitled ‘The future of the tenanted sector’, the conference will be discussing issues the industry faces with speakers including the minister for agriculture, Jim Paice.
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