The future of farming with Katie Fallon

Katie Fallon is a final year BSc Agri-Business student who, from her studies, is working to understand the future of agriculture within the business sector. In light of recent media, Katie is seeking to educate through a fair and balanced perspective about the benefits of farming, especially in the food sector.

Speaking about the future of farming, Katie said, "Within the UK, I see the future of agriculture returning full circle; we'll go back to provenance farming, buying local and buying British. Especially within the current climate, buying British may become the more financially viable solution to most people."

With this in mind, Katie's final year study is in regards to farmers and their sheep sales; why do they choose to sell the flocks they do and the overall purpose for doing so. Including profit, breeding and research, Katie's work seeks to under pin the sheep sector to educate others in the importance of farming.

On the subject of education, Katie is an advocate for exposing younger generations to the farming lifestyle earlier in their school life. She believes that having a GCSE revolving around farming would make young people more aware of their choices in both future careers and consumption habits. Misinformation, she believes, is the biggest draw away from farming and education is the best way to rectify such problems.

"The media emphasises variation in diet as a threat - it's really not. A lot of stock is put into something inconclusive so I hope more perceptive and balanced research is undertaken to give people clear information."

If you have a passion for food and want to find out more about studying here, you can read more from Annette Creedon about our undergraduate courses or from Jane Eastham in developing a career in food through industry management.