Where Next for Future Farming Skills?

Shaping an agenda for training future farmers, identifying policy support and good training practice.

Skills to grow food in ways good for people and planet are crucial to green transitions. However, formal education for future farmers often neglects environmentally sustainable farming so new entrants rely on informal training placements where quality learning is not guaranteed.

This project, led by the School of Geography and Planning, addressed these challenges by capturing insights from a pilot agro-ecological horticulture training programme to identify how to ensure excellent training is available to future growers, alongside partners - the Land Workers Alliance Service and Social Farms and Gardens.

The research underpinning this project focused on skills and knowledge for horticulture in the UK, working to identify the sector’s vulnerabilities in relation to education and training. An early research finding highlighted shortages of specialist provision for those wanting to begin growing in agro-ecological ways (e.g. organic, permaculture).

In the absence of formal educational opportunities, the sector has developed informal routes into jobs and skills development. The current reliance on informal training is vulnerable in multiple ways: reliance on goodwill, risk of experts’ burnout, lack of quality assurance and inaccessibility to potential trainees unable to enter unwaged roles.

This project fostered rural communities’ skills for green transitions through knowledge of agro-ecological food growing, and training growers. It built resilient learning networks within the agro-ecological farming community to become better trainers. Secondly, the project supported trainees to engage with Senedd members, policy officials, and other stakeholders to advocate for creating a more resilient knowledge and place-based quality training system for agro-ecological farming in Wales

Workshops were created and delivered in rural farming communities across Wales bringing together participants in the Future Farming Skills training pilot and stakeholders. Facilitated discussion captured experiences with farm-based training, identified challenges, good practice and actions to support future training. The workshops identified support to best enable farmers to become better trainers, and deliver quality training.

It is intended further applications for funding will be made to support the creation of ‘train the trainer’ toolkits, instructional videos and learning resources to support future trainers to enhance the sector’s capacity to support skills development.