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.