New Cambridgeshire NFU chairman Bob Lawrence is backing moves to give children lessons on the land.
From September, schools across the country will be involved in the Year of Food & Farming, a Government-backed idea which will involve farm visits, cooking local produce and pupils growing their own food.
“I was brought up in Kent, where my father was a builder,” he recalled. “The school I went to had a small farm and offered agricultural sciences at O’ level. That got me started."