Students targeted to get into farming industry (From Smallholder)

Students targeted to get into farming industry

5:25pm Tuesday 25th September 2012 in News

 A new magazine aimed at encouraging the next generation of farmers into the industry is handed out to thousands of agricultural students..

#studentfarmer, which comes with a free Keep Calm and Farm poster, will be used to target freshers studying at specialised agricultural colleges as well as colleges and universities with industry-related courses.

It is hoped #studentfarmer will help students make that next step once their degree is up – whether they want to find a graduate scheme, go travelling while still farming or continue with education and do an BSc or MSc.

Editor Emily Cole said: “It will be an exciting time for all those students heading to college or university in the coming weeks and many of them will already have chosen to study farming in some way.

“We hope this magazine will give them a few ideas on what they can do following higher education and make them see that choosing agriculture was the best decision they ever made.”

The magazine is being launched at a time that despite unemployment figures rising around the nation, employment in agriculture has actually grown by 10,000 jobs between 2010 and 2011 to 476,000. This is just one message of the NFU’s Farming Delivers for Britain campaign that looks at how the sector delivers great career opportunities for young people.

The magazine will also highlight the work the NFU is doing for those young people entering the sector and readers can enjoy a free NFU student membership, which comes with lots of benefits. They will also be entered into a prize draw for an iPad 3, sponsored by John Deere.

Features include columns from current students and young farmers, a 'diary dates' page, two-page infographic on what farming looks like now and what it will need to do in the future as well as information on NFYFC.

It is also hoped that students will Tweet pictures of themselves or post pictures to Instagram with their new Keep Calm and Farm posters.

Students can pick up a copy at their college or download a free copy from http://issuu.com/studentfarmer/docs/studentfarmer_september Queries can be sent to studentfarmer@nfu.org.uk and the #studentfarmer can be used on Twitter.