Recently unemployment figures for 16 to 24 year-olds escalated to near one million. There are now 993,000 young people without a job, according to the Office of National Statistics, and some 20 per cent of this summer’s graduates will leave university without employment.
At the same time, the food industry is facing a future with a dearth of young talent to replace those retiring or moving to other careers. It is particularly acute in farming and fresh produce, with the NFU setting up its Farming Delivers initiative to try to recruit the estimated 70,000 new farmers and farmworkers needed nationally over the next five years.
However, it is not just a lack of people to work the land that’s of concern, according to recruiters and industry insiders, there is a shortage of pipeline talent for almost every aspect of fresh produce production, from agronomists to plant scientists and management trainees.
The Royal Horticultural Society has also launched a campaign of action to raise the profile of horticulture careers following the results of a survey it commissioned into young people’s perceptions of the industry.
Almost 70 per cent of the18-year-olds questioned believed people who have “failed academically” should only consider horticultural careers. Nearly 50 per cent of under-25s thought horticulture an “unskilled career”.
Horticulture is more than domestic or landscape gardening and covers a vast array of skills; many needed for the continued good health of the fresh produce industry.
RHS Director General Sue Biggs is calling on the government to teach horticulture in schools to counter the negative view of the industry.
“It is quite staggering that whilst youth unemployment is at an all-time high, the horticultural industry has more skilled vacancies than it can fill in the UK despite the recession,’ says Biggs.
“Today there is a lack of specialist technical skills, especially at higher levels, yet horticulture is not included within the school curriculum, and university degree courses with horticulture are decreasing. On top of this our survey showed that horticultural career opportunities were not highlighted to 70 per cent of people when leaving education.”
A hidden industry
Image, or lack of one, is one of the largest obstacles that the fresh produce industry needs to overcome if it is to attract young people to the sector. As fresh produce lacks a brand presence, the majority of it is sold ‘white labeled’, as an industry it is hard to leave an impression.
“Unless you know someone who has worked in the industry, then knowledge of this business is negligible,” says Guy Moreton, founder of specialist recruitment agency More People.
“The industry has few brand names, and it doesn’t sell itself even though there are fantastic opportunities for the right young people. Wages are consummate with those of people working for Mars, for example, and yet many, many graduates do not know anything about working in fresh produce.”
Moreton, who has set up a new division called More Talent specifically for recruiting young talent, says another issue facing the industry is its own view of recruitment.
He adds: “I often get asked for graduates that have one to two years experience but given that we can’t attract young people in the first place, where are these people to come from?
“When the recession kicked in many firms took, an understandably, short-term view of recruitment. Many did not feel they could not take on graduates when they were making drivers, forklift operators redundant.
“However, that tightening up is starting to loosen now but still many firms will not look at graduates that do not have an agriculture degree from somewhere like Harper Adams.”
David Macaulay of recruiters Eden Select and Search says it is not just a matter of attracting talent but also retaining it.
“Graduates are, by their nature, ambitious people and so while the big players can offer a career path that can keep someone within the company for a number of years, a small or medium sized business might struggle to see the value in taking on someone that may leave after two years,” he says.
“There needs to be the structure within a business to plan for that progression and to have confidence in investing in that person because often the payback is not for two to three years.”
Produce World’s group HR director, David Frost, says there are a few basic procedures that employers should do with all staff, including one-to-ones and good communications so that people know what they are doing and why they are doing it in that particular way.
“We also believe that you need to invest in leadership skills, that people then know they are working for a very professional organisation,” he says.
“This is particularly beneficial for graduates because then they have role models, you don’t want them to be questioning who they are learning from and why they are in this company.”
Frost adds that companies should not be concerned about throwing graduates “in at the deep end” and giving them meaty challenges where they can really show their capabilities.
Raw talent
Both Moreton and Macaulay agree that it’s not just at graduate level that the fresh produce industry should be looking for its next generation, but also in sixth form colleges where bright students may not wish to take on the debt associated with a degree but are still looking for a career path. Likewise, apprenticeships offer raw talent, ready to be trained up.
Moreton has long advocated that fresh produce firms “adopt a local school or college” in order to raise the profile of the industry among young people considering their future career prospects.
Slowly but surely the industry is getting involved with school projects, with VHB Herbs recently joining the ranks by inviting local teenagers to its West Sussex nursery to learn about cultivating fresh food.
Production director Chris Moncrieff says when it comes to recruitment, for them it is the caliber of the individual not the qualifications that matter.
“We would rather have the raw material to work with, someone who is going to be passionate about the business and has the right attitude because even if they don’t know about the business, with training they will acquire those skills,” he says.
“It is a challenge because unlike Virgin or British Airways, the industry is hidden and we need to tackle this on a national basis.”
There are educational schemes tackling the issue, such as Bright Crop, a cross-industry initiative that aims to support career services in schools by providing not only information on farming and food supply but also ambassadors to go into schools to talk to 11 to 16 year-olds about opportunities in the industry.
The Bright Crop model will go some way to change the perception that food production is low-skilled, low-paid and not challenging enough for graduates.
Vanessa Young, a trainee potato breeder with Mylnefield Research Services (MRS) based in Scotland, completely refutes this assertion.
“There is never a dull moment in potato breeding as the range of tasks required by a breeder continually change from season to season and there are always new and interesting challenges round the corner,” she says.
“At present, there is a deficit of plant breeders worldwide and with an ever-expanding world population, food security issues, crop disease pressures and concerns over climate change, training of new plant breeders is vital in tackling these mounting challenges.
“I feel honoured to have been given this opportunity, which has undoubtedly enhanced my career progression.”
As an industry, fresh produce has a diverse and interesting portfolio of careers and opportunities to off young people. Right now has never been a better time to reach out and make them aware of it.
