Young people and organic farming - 09/20/2006

Interviewer: I'm going to be talking today to Jim Twine, who's the Soil Association's Business Development Director. We're going to be talking about getting more young people involved in organic farming. And Jim, you're actually a young organic farmer yourself aren't you? Maybe you can tell me a little bit more about yourself to start with.

Jim: Yep, sure. I was brought up on a small biodynamic farm which is about eight miles away from Bristol, and about two and a half years ago, I took over the farm and I rent it from my parents. As I said, I've done that for two and a half years now and I work really closely with another organic farmer who's pretty much our next door neighbour and we run the farm together as one. So it gives me a lot of opportunity to get my hands dirty and to be really involved on a day to day basis with farming as well as through my work.

Interviewer: And how old are you?

Jim: I'm 30 years old.

Interviewer: 30? So that's pretty young to be managing your own farm.

Jim: Yes, pretty young!

Interviewer: So one of the things we've been talking about in podcasts lately is Organic Works, this report that came out which outlines more about the socio-economic impacts of organic farming, and that actually more young people are involved in organic farming than non-organic farming. Is that what you've found too and if so why do you think that is?

Jim: We've definitely found that. As you know, through the Organic Works report, we saw that most conventional farmers are approaching 60 years old, whereas most organic farmers are a lot younger than that, being typically seven years younger. And really interestingly, in recent times we've seen that trend develop even further through the applications that we're receiving through Soil Association Certification. So we've found that on average, those farmers are actually 12 years younger than conventional farmers with an average age of 46.

And interestingly, more and more of our applications are coming from women – 28% of our new applicants are actually women that are coming into farming which is very interesting. And actually, there's a long history of really strong female involvement in the organic movement, which goes back to Lady Eve obviously, who founded the Soil Association in 1946.

Interviewer: So has the Soil Association actually got any policies in place to encourage more young people into farming. Are you making any special allowances for them?

Jim: Yes, there's a number of things that we've done really. One of the first things is that we've set up a new certification scheme for people that are under 30 which gives them a special fee deal as they come into certification. Clearly, that we know that one of the things that people are bound to struggle with is both capitalising farms and buying land and by offering them a reduced rate for the first two years of their certification with us is, if you like, our way of supporting them through that period of time. Particularly when they're not actually going to have any organic products to sell.

Interviewer: That's really important, but a lot of people are going to say that the biggest issue is land. In the UK at the moment, it's impossible for young people to buy a house, let alone a farm. Is there anything the Soil Association's doing to help people?

Jim: Yes, at the National Conference this year, we announced three main initiatives, that all fell under the banner of helping to encourage the next generation of people to come into both food and farming. And I think it's important that we don't forget the food element to this as well, and the processing side of things.

But we announced three things, one of those, the first one, was really to set up an online dating agency between young people that are really keen to get involved in organic farming and existing organic farmers who would perhaps be more than happy to have a young person come onto their farm and utilise their land to develop their own enterprise, and that might be a pigs or poultry or veg growing enterprise. So that there's possibility for young people that haven't got that amount of money from the outset, to be able to set up their own business on an established organic farm, and we've already had some success within that area, and there a number of good examples of where that's already happening.

Interviewer: So what are the other points that came up in the conference?

Jim: The two others that I think are really worth mentioning are the next generation events that we want to hold. We want to hold at least one event every year, preferably on a farm, that's really concentrating on the issues that are facing young people coming into agriculture. One of the difficulties that I think we've struggled with is that lots of people really enjoy going to Soil Association events and the conference, but they are actually quite expensive for young people.

So what we want to put on is a very reasonably priced weekend, probably where people camp, that really concentrates on the issues that are facing young people, and how we can really help to take that forward. Which is interesting actually, because in many ways that represents how the Soil Association's Food and Farming Department was originally formed through real ground-up groups that were called British Organic Farmers and the Organic Growers Association.

Interviewer: So I know there has been an Organic Futures group – is that part of that initiative?

Jim: Yes, definitely that is part of that initiative. As I said, it's really ground-up, working with young people that are already involved in food and farming, and that really feel passionately about this, that are already our members, and really want to take it and drive things forward.

What also we hope to be able do and links into that, is an apprenticeship scheme. So we know that we've got many fantastic organic farmers that are based all over the country. And in recent years, it's been more and more difficult for young people to get involved in apprenticeship schemes and to learn from those people that have got a long history and pedigree within organic food and farming, so that's another element of what we'd like to see get off the ground.

Interviewer: Okay, so say you're 14 years old, you're at school, you're really interested in farming as a career – who would you get in touch with at the Soil Association for further information?

Jim: Well, again, the start point for people would be through the Soil Association Food and Farming Department. And I think it's an interesting question actually, because for a long, long time food and farming has been seen as an industry that people perhaps wouldn't encourage their children to go into. You'll often speak to farmers that say, 'I don't want my children to go down this route because it's really hard work and we've been producing at or below the cost of production for a number of years'. But I think that tide's changing actually and we're really getting to a tipping point where being involved in food and farming is becoming much more exciting and something that a lot more young people would be interested in and we've got to be part of that.

Interviewer: If you'd like to find out more about the new initiatives for teenagers and young people, contact the Food and Farming Department. That's 0117 914 2400 or email them on ff@soilassociation.org.

» Listen to the podcast [mp3, 2,536 KB]