Agriculture Bill: Highly skilled workforce will be vital

Ag Bill latest stages: February 13, 2020. Committee debate, 3^rd and 4^th sittings in the House of Commons

As the Agriculture Bill makes its way through Parliament, we’ve been gathering responses from members of the university community on what it means for the future of farming. Today, we hear from Terry Pickthall, Lecturer & Placement Manager for Agriculture.

Brexit and the Agriculture Bill see the industry facing the greatest period of change for generations. Whilst there is concern around the ultimate phasing-out of subsidies and the uncertainty of how future trade arrangements will impact on both imports and exports, there are many opportunities.

The Agriculture Bill will challenge farmers and growers to produce food more efficiently and with less impact on the environment. Greater importance may also be placed on the country being more self-sufficient with home-produced food as the impact of global distribution on the environment becomes more well understood.

Exciting new technologies will play a vital part in facilitating improved farming practices. UK agriculture must seize the opportunity to continue to lead the world in sustainable, ethical, efficient and low-impact farming practices.

The importance of a highly-skilled workforce to achieve these goals is vital and Harper Adams University is proud to be supporting the development of the next generation of agricultural professionals. Our specialist degree programmes offer an excellent start to embark upon an agricultural career. Our industry needs new talent fast – both from outside the industry and those who are already familiar with it.

The British public are also likely to be far closer to farming with the impact of food production on the environment a continual headline-grabbing subject in the popular media. The Agricultural Bill is also encouraging more farm land to be made available for environmental remediation and amenity.

Bringing the public closer to farming and the part it plays in local communities is a great opportunity to address growing and understandable concerns about farming’s impact on the environment. Building awareness of the good things are industry is already doing and can do in the future is vital to redress some of the inaccurate and misleading information in the popular media at the moment.

At Harper Adams we showcase the world-leading work already going on in Great Britain and are also contributing much to its future development