Young farmers need more support, call the winner of Channel 4 Show

In a hit TV program, a woman who won an opportunity to rent a farm for 15 years has called for more support to encourage youth in agriculture.

Sarah Jenkins, 28 won the latest series of our dream farms of Channel 4, and said that there were not enough opportunities for people for people and young people.

This comes when farming leaders warned in a new report of the “important obstacles” facing young farmers, and said that the figures that highlight the aging workforce of the industry were “scary”.

Welsh government said it supported several programs, which were in farming to help the youth “bring energy and fresh ideas”.

Sara and her partner Ian Jones National Trust’s Lilidi became the tenant of ISF – 248 hectares (613 acres) hill form in the center of the Eri National Park, also known as Snowodonia – after the “acute” TV content last year.

After repeated efforts to secure the farm in recent years, young couples were already “taking the most advantage of it”.

“We are very lucky,” he said, “it is a large -scale positive that we have a tenancy for 15 years”.

Hiring a farm was “only realistic option” because land prices were so high, “influenced by large companies buying land to plant trees for carbon offset”, he claimed.

This was a “uncertain” time to start a farming business and “quite risk”, given Continue subsidy And other policies, and he urged governments in both Cardiff and Westminster to “think of young farmers”.

Protest And in recent years, dissatisfaction within the industry would have thrown agriculture “as a career”, he warned.

“I will not blame any young person who does not want to go to farming due to all the ruckus … but it will come in a full cycle.

“The country is realizing how valuable the British food is and how important farmers are for this country.”

In a new report launched at the Royal Welsh Agriculture Show, Llanelwedd, Powys, The Farmers Union of Wales (FUW) made 40 recommendations to encourage youth in the industry.

The Sangh emphasized the major importance of “attracting and maintaining young talents and securing food security and maintaining environmental challenges, while maintaining the rural communities.

Fuw Policy Officer, TELERI FILELDEN, stated that the figures on the aging workforce were “scary” – with the average age of the “major decision manufacturer” on the Welsh Farm with the average age of 61 years, and only 3% “farmers were prominent to farmers under 35.

He said, “This is a bit because we have a generation that has been told that it is not to go to farming – it is very difficult,” he said.

Reaches to prohibitive land prices and finance are identified as major challenges in the report, as limited and unprotected tenure and sales of County Council forms.

The report also warned of “the succession plan and/or a significant lack of desire within the industry as a whole”, 21% of the farmers recently voted in a survey stating that they did not intend to retire.

The recommendations for the Welsh government included working as their new permanent agricultural scheme for young farmers, which also had more support for agricultural colleges.

The report also encouraged existing farmers and landowners to provide tense and provide long -term, safe arrangements.

“Give the next generation to those opportunities,” urged MS Fieldon.

He said that other farmers could like “becoming a patron, passing their skills, leasing livestock or lending equipment”.

“Turning with a little help and only to give to young farmers who promote to say that ‘you can do it and we are here for you’ really important. ‘

Kaleb Water made a history of Fuw by becoming the youngest person selected to one of the association’s committees when she was just 15 years old.

Now 18, the young farmer of Ebergavani of Monmothshire said that he felt that he had to “join the farming after being worried about the amount of my friends who were saying that they were not going into agriculture”.

“It’s heartbreaking,” he said, the school is calling for more emphasis on teaching about farming.

28 -year -old Sarah Roberts, Koleg Sir Geli and an agricultural lecturer at Campus, Carmerthan said that there was also to work to change the perceptions about career in agriculture.

“This is an industry that is changing all the time and a farmer’s stereotype in his flat cap with a shepherd crook at the top of a mountain does not really paint what it is at this time,” he said.

“We clearly need people who will give milk to cows and drive tractors, but the industry is much higher than this – drone operators, people with very expert technical skills, data analysts also need.”

The Welsh government said that it continues to support young and new entry into the agricultural industry through programs like Start to Farm.

“The new Sustainable Farming Scheme is designed to be accessible to all farmers including new entrances and tenant farmers,” said a spokesman.

“We want to ensure that the new and youth can enter the industry and bring energy and fresh ideas.”