A NEW Beef and Sheep Farming Careers project is to showcase the benefits of work-based learning in order to attract more young people into the industry – and encourage more established farmers to become mentors.

The project, which is a collaboration between NFU Scotland, Quality Meat Scotland and Borders College, will follow a range of students at different stages within their agriculture careers, highlighting the different routes towards an apprenticeship, whether direct from school, college, as a career changer or through a pre-apprenticeship.

Farming bodies hope that this will help ensure there is a pipeline of future employees coming through who have the relevant skills and knowledge required to farm in a dynamic, developing industry.

“The focus groups highlighted a number of perceived barriers to employers in hiring an apprentice and we want to address some of these barriers and showcase the many benefits an apprentice can bring to a business and to employers,” said NFUS skills policy manager George Jamieson.

“Borders College are one of the many high quality organisations delivering apprenticeships in Scotland and we are excited to work with them to highlight how they are including sustainability, biodiversity, technology, as well as traditional agricultural skills into their programme," he continued. "We look to work closely with the wider college sector and potentially schools on information and collaboration.”

Read more: Choosing which career is for you!

Curriculum and learning manager at Borders College, Mary Thomson, added: “We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with QMS and NFUS to highlight some of the excellent work-based learning opportunities available within the sector and hope that this will encourage more learners to consider a career in agriculture. We also look forward to hearing from Borders Region employers interested in providing a work-based learning opportunity to a student."

One of the apprentices who will be sharing their story is Rhianna, who is currently undertaking a Modern Apprenticeship on Pilmuir Farm, a mainly livestock farm, on the outskirts of Hawick.

Matthews Thomson from Pilmuir Farm, who originally took Rhianna on as a work placement student and has encouraged her to move onto her Modern Apprenticeship, said: “As a young person myself running a farming business I know opportunities are hard to come by and it’s been great to be able to give another young person an opportunity to learn about the industry in a positive manner.”