Free events seek to wow new entrants in taking up horticulture

Soil Association is wanting to drive new entrants into the horticultural sector (Photo: Soil Association)
Soil Association is wanting to drive new entrants into the horticultural sector (Photo: Soil Association)

The Soil Association, working as part of an industry initiative, wants to introduce people to large-scale horticulture due to a falling number of new entrants.

The farming charity's goal is to highlight the "innovative and exciting" approaches that producers in the sector are adopting and create a better understanding of these businesses.

UK grown vegetables are worth £1.3 billion annually while UK grown fruits are worth £695 million.

These numbers have been steadily increasing over recent years, creating new opportunities. However, while the sector contributes considerably to the economy, there is a lack of new entrants into horticulture.

Across agriculture in general, around 60% of total labour is provided by the farmers themselves or their immediate family. A further 20% are regularly employed workers and around 15% are casual (non-regular or seasonal) workers.

In the fresh produce sector employment of non-UK labour has been expanding in recent years.

Of those regular and non-regular workers, less than 1% of the UK’s working population are employed in agriculture and this has continued to gradually decline over the past decade.

The majority of horticultural workers are migrants, who may be unable to work in the UK following the exit from the European Union.

Getting hands dirty

In the summer of 2017, the Soil Association will be hosting two on-site study visits for people interested in finding out more about the employment opportunities in the sector.

The first will be held in Nottinghamshire and the second in Worcestershire. Each visit will be open to just 15 students, free of charge.

Across two days, the Soil Association will be taking students to visit a mixture of both conventional and organic UK growers.

Liz Bowles, head of farming at the Soil Association said: “Only 1% of the UK’s working population are employed in agriculture and this has continued to gradually decline over the past decade. Different training programmes are needed to bring UK workers into horticultural jobs and show them that it can provide an exciting and rewarding career.”

“Our aim is to give participants a better understanding of the day-to-day functioning of large-scale horticulture and allow them to get their hands dirty.

“During the visits, we will also be leading a series of discussions to better understand the student’s pre-existing perception of horticulture and to highlight the innovative practices that are being adopted worldwide.”

A copy of the application and details for submission are available here. The deadline for applications is 16th June.