Farming the land - girls of the 21st century (From Smallholder)

Farming the land - girls of the 21st century

9:22pm Wednesday 18th August 2010 in

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Veteran and 21st century land Girls will celebrate over seventy years of women's farming at an event to be held at the Imperial War Museum London's Wartime Farm on Thursday 19 August.

Working together at the Museum’s temporary outdoors Wartime Farm the Land Girls will demonstrate how the skills of women in the sector have changed during the last 70 years, whilst highlighting how the government funded Women and Work programme has helped the modern day Land Girls to develop their skills and careers.

A spokesperson for the Imperial War Museum said: “During the Second World War, British agriculture had to dramatically increase production to feed the nation and the Women’s Land Army played an essential part in this process, along with prisoners of war and those who volunteered at Farming Holiday Camps. Our Ministry of Food exhibition, and the Wartime Farm, seeks to pay tribute to the men, women and children who played their part in the story of wartime food, including the many thousands of Women’s Land Army recruits whose duties ranged from ploughing to rat catching.”

According to research published by Lantra, the environmental and land-based skills council, a staggering 81% of the agricultural workforce is male. To help readdress the balance Lantra’s Women and Work programme is providing women with an individual £450 training grant.

Lantra’s programme has helped more than 3,000 women over the last four years gain skills in areas such as farm-shop layout, tractor driving, butchery, animal and livestock foot trimming, website design, management and accounts. Madge Moore, Lantra’s National Director for England, said: “The programme gives women opportunities to progress their own careers and embark on new activities which they may never have otherwise considered. The sheer variety of courses women have taken really highlights the incredible range of opportunities that are available to women in the land-based sector. And this is why the Women and Work programme is so valuable.” Liz Stockley, a first generation dairy farmer from Dorset and formerly an accountant, has completed management training with the Women and Work programme. Her farm is now organic and, as a result of the training, they have made very practical changes to the way in which the farm is run. Jane Wilton-Clark, after a serious riding accident, left her job at an IT company in the City to become a successful pig farmer in Cambridgeshire. Jan completed her course in Pork Butchery with the Women and Work programme and started her farm with just two pigs. Jane now operates a farm with over 200 rare-breed pigs on 33 acres of farmland. She sells her products at local famers’ markets and is looking to expand her business online and at an outlet at the farm. Due to local demand, she will also be teaching pig-keeping courses to interested residents.

Michelle Dale is in charge of HR for Bordon Hill Nurseries. She joined the Stratford-upon-Avon company seven years ago as an administrative assistant. Gaining NVQ Level 5 in personnel strategy with a grant from the Women and Work programme has helped Michelle progress her career. She says, “It means that my long-term ambition of becoming a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development is within reach. In fact, I hope to gain my fellowship by the end of the year.”