Girl Power

The other week I spent an interesting day at The Royal Agricultural College Speaking to the Widening Participation officer. When I first found there was such a post I found it quite funny having gone to college at a time when the Royal maintained an exclusive status by having fees that were way above other colleges and was definitely not known for being inclusive.
Emma Thomas is an interesting person that is very much motivated by the benefits that education bring to young people. Her post is funded from several streams and is part of Aim Higher which is about making everyone aware of the benefits higher education can bring, whatever their background. This means that she is not just promoting Agricultural education. Most colleges and universities have such a person and bring all ages of school children onto campus to encourage them to aspire to Higher Education.
So why go to the Royal? I first contacted Emma because she runs the Young City Farmers Programme an idea inspired by The Black Farmer (Wilfred Emanual Jones) to get inner city kids out to experience the countryside and then help them equip themselves with the skills to go into land based industries. The programme is in it's 4th year and is funded from several land based charitable trusts and the results are now being seen. Previous student have gone on to various courses including NDA's in horticulture, apprenticeships and full time jobs. A really well thought out programme that certainly inspired youngsters to make agriculture their choice of career. The only draw back was it was only 12 students a year participating and the resources going into were quite considerable. Although Emma was pleased how the program had developed she felt that maybe it was not utilising resources efficiently and reaching out to enough students.
Emma was helped out by 2 very able girls that were Student Ambassadors. This looked like a job I could have done with at college with pay rates well over the minimum wage. Talking to these girls was where the day got very interesting. One was from a farm and was studying a degree in food chain, the other was from non farming background and in second year of a BSC in Agriculture. They had a fantastic commitment to promoting the food industry and bubbled over with enthusiasm. They obviously had the right communication skills to encourage school children to have a go at higher Education. I learnt loads from them, mainly about being old and cynical but also pearls of wisdom like 'of course we expect to be more professional than our parents generation' 'it is difficult to get experience on a farm but i always read the farmers weekly' 'i completed a tractor driving course but not yet learnt to reverse a trailer' ' on course of 40 Ag students only 4 are girls.' It was a bit mind blowing and i am still having a job working some of it out.
So far i am thinking that

1. Although i started on my pre college year 25 years ago, it is still nearly impossible to get a job on a farm without some experience
2. I thought we had done the feminist bit and proved that girls were as good as the boys, but I just must not notice anymore. (did you know that only 10% of farmworkers are female)
3. It's about time farmers woke up and took both girls and boys more seriously before all this youthful enthusiasm goes somewhere else.
4. Why on earth is Agriculture the one course at RAC that doesn't require any practical experience?

Nevil says that i should have gone and visited a proper Agriculture College (old habits die hard) and maybe I will and maybe the demographics will be different, I hope so.
The following week I got even more confused when the Farmer Weekly had some forum on 'What should a Farmers Daughter do?' Sometimes I am at a loss how to understand an industry that seems to find what your father works at more important than your skills (how many job interviews ask that?) and seems content to dismiss 50% of the workforce because of their Sex.
As a mother of 2 Daughters and 3 Sons I know which ones are the most focused and ambitious and the most useful on the farm. OK so not really scientific survey but that's Nuffield.
Phew,Rant Over so you can relax now!


My Pre-College farm, Newhouse Farm where the Hook family were good enough to teach me to drive a tractor. I did work for £35 per week for 3 months and was very proud when they decided I was good enough to be paid a proper wage.

Okehampton Show with kiwi humour

One thing we do well in the South West is Agricultural shows. The smaller local shows that are run with passion by volunteers are the best days out, much more entertainment than any theme park. Today we went off to Okehampton show and it did not disappoint. This show has had a few years that it had to be cancelled due to bad weather, but it has recovered and seemed to have loads of top class stock, as well as all the usual rural entertainment.Funny moments included the pig couple showing where one pair of white pigs caused chaos, a black sow who managed to wee on Alfred's foot and best of all the fantastic Sheep show
Who could possibly forget the sheep characteristics after such a brilliant demonstration, only a Kiwi could train nine sheep to dance.
The show was packed with all ages, both looking at and exhibiting livestock, crafts and vintage machinery. Sightly worrying to see a ford Fiesta in vintage display of the same age that i was so proud to buy after one summer of tractor driving, but great seeing David Brown Cropmaster that I remember watching our neighbour ploughing with when I was just a youngster ( mind you it must have been fairly vintage then).
Judging on today the young are most certainly interested in the countryside, and the countryside has people that are prepared to put in huge amounts energy of running the show or exhibiting, the challenge is how does that transfer to a commitment to start those youngsters on a career in farming.

Who needs Holidays?

As we head for home, we start to list reasons we can’t stay for longer. Ian Walker the owner of our lovely holiday gite was really pleased that he had quite a few 3 week bookings. Most of these bookings seemed to be school teachers, but even a 2 week holiday seems to be something that we may save like mad to achieve, but organising would be very near impossible. After getting our first farm we never left the place together for 5 years, eventually we took the kids on a weekend trip to Woolacombe to stay in a caravan that was all of 30 miles away, what a revelation and what fun. The children had our undivided attention and we could relax. As Nevil could quickly return to sort any problems out we were able to leave our very capable French agricultural student in charge.

With the children getting older and employing full time staff as well as students, last year was the first time we attempted a full week holiday. Of course now with mobile phones and many holiday accommodation having wi-fi you can pretty much keep in touch constantly and we have been able to keep an eye on the day to day running of the poultry business and even update this blog! However, farming by internet is pretty impossible and to get away Nevil had to work non-stop before we left and had to pay to leave someone reliable in charge.

So is it worth it? Although the hassle of travelling with 5 children is a little desperate (I’m writing this on the ferry, help!) Nevil and I are coming back refreshed and with hopefully a clearer direction and new ideas. The children are healthy and brown, their swimming has improved and they have an appreciation of French. They have been out for very traditional French meals and behaved themselves (mostly), been and bought bread and sweets on their own at the boulangier, cultivating with a young French farmer in a John Deere and played French Pokeman. More importantly we have all spent time together as a family.

So yes, a Nuffield experience most definitely broadens the horizons, not just for us but the children as well. Growing up on the farm can be fantastic but could become isolating; hopefully we are equipping them with skills to grow up into confident adults, not frightened to push the boundaries.

So how does a new entrant step back, assess their business and take a rest. Pretty near impossible but from our experience it should compulsory! Those farms where the parents are on hand no problem, but first generation farmers the cost and worry of taking a break at prohibitive. A while back I was talking to a local representative for Farm Crisis Network that was popping in each day to check on the relief milker so a young farmer was having a chance of a worry free family holiday. Maybe preventing a Crisis is a network the farming community should be organising themselves and offering the young a chance for a rest.

Meanwhile, I must prevent a crisis with a seven year old who really is not coping well with the sea, may be next year we will try Cornwall.