Ploughing investment into skills vital

WHEN the economist Peter Cook wrote his report on the future of agriculture in the North-east of Scotland, he got right to the heart of the matter on labour needs.

"An industry lacking good people cannot grasp future opportunities," he commented.

Cook went on to outline a series of national actions designed to remedy the long-term need for the farming industry to recognise the critical importance of effective workforce development, underlining the urgency for fully fledged apprenticeship schemes, a rigorous assessment of the cost benefits of training, and a comprehensive programme to attract and retain farm staff.

In short, it was a clarion call for a wholesale review of how the modern farming business invests in a vital tool for the future if it is to play a major role as a high technology part of the food industry.

Over the past year there have been some encouraging signs that the message is getting through and a recognition that an industry that has, year-in year-out, shed labour has to give much more serious thought to harnessing skills and deploying them to meet the needs of changing circumstances.

So much so that an AgriSkills strategy is due to be formally launched later this year following the Future of Farming conference, organised by Lantra, the sector's skills council, last month.

The aim of the conference, and the thrust of the strategy, is to make the farming industry fit for the 21st century, to encourage investment and look for funding.

The strategy lays out the need not only to recognise existing skills, but promote their development, create a concept of professionalism and re-brand the industry as a progressive place to work. It is by any standards timely and reflects the fact that training has never been fully recognised as a standard part of the farm business and an everyday part of operations.

While statutory training has been taken on board, vocational training has received little more than lip service and as a result the industry has created a skills void that has weakened it structurally.

That is not to say that farming does not have skilled individuals, it is to underline the fact that training has been bitty and piecemeal and never fully embedded in the system, nor recognised outside the workplace – a point made by Richard Longthorp, a blunt-talking Yorkshire arable and pig farmer, who chairs the AgriSkills Forum.

He believes too many employers see training as a cost and compliance issue, rather than skills development adding value to the farming business. A trained workforce is a key requisite for a farming industry that aims for the highest standards of animal welfare, food safety and environmental management and sustainability.

What is required is a training regime that is relevant to farming today, that promotes and recognises achievement, and has the capacity to attract school-leavers.

It has been estimated, at a UK level, 60,000 new entrants are required for agriculture – 6,000 in Scotland – over the next ten years to fill the projected gap.

Recruitment is one of the most fundamental issues to be faced by the farming industry with the concern that by 2035 farmers could be a rare sight unless there is a radical re-examination of attracting new people into the industry.

There has long been much talk about the need for agriculture to bring in new blood but that has focused on "new farmers". What should be considered more radically is how best to bring in a new workforce.

Allied to this is the challenge to create careers, not merely jobs. If young people are to be attracted into the farming industry, Scottish farming plc should be able to sell a career on the land as an integral part of a dynamic Scottish economy. The farm business has to promote itself in the broader context offering a good working environment, and the industry has to demonstrate that it can show the same innovation and adaptability in catering for its workforce as it can in turning out prime livestock and quality food.

Farmers have long argued, despite the fact that the wage structure is underpinned by a statutory board of regulation, that money is not the sole reason for the shortfall in labour. The wider employment package increasingly being sought by workers and their wives has to be considered.

For many workers, farm work is not an attractive career path and this is an issue that has to be tackled by the industry in an imaginative manner.