Frustration with regulation and concerns about the prospects for new entrants are among the key issues impacting next generation farmers, new research shows.
The Route to Success survey, conducted by The National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC) and supported by Defra and Lantra, is NFYFC’s third community-wide survey in the last three years. The findings highlight continued anxiety around the future of farming and a need for more training and business support.
Finance and access to land continue to top the barriers facing new entrants with 72% of respondents thinking it will be difficult or impossible to move into farming.
Luke Cox, NFYFC’s Vice Chair of its YFC AGRI steering group, said: “Young Farmers want to continue to produce Great British food, but year-on-year the survey indicates that new entrants can’t access the support required to break into the industry.
“Without this injection of new and exciting ideas, UK farming is going to miss out on a generation of talent and enthusiasm.”
When questioned about the new Defra environment schemes, 75% of respondents were either not sure or felt the schemes were not affecting them at all.
- Only 10% of respondents felt they had a good understanding of emerging Defra land management schemes.
- More people felt they were being positively than negatively affected.
- More than 50% suggested that they understood in part about ecosystem services.
Respondents identified grants (68%), as the most important aspect of support required for delivering environmental schemes, with business support (55%), encouragement of new entrants (56%) and training (54%) also ranking highly.
A series of focus groups with NFYFC members and next generation groups will be held this year.
NFYFC’s latest survey follows on from its 2020 research into young farmers’ experiences of the pandemic and the 2021 survey that focused on young farmers’ views on the future of land use. All three surveys show a continuity of findings in terms of a commitment to food production within progressive standards, a concern for food security and an acknowledgement of huge barriers for new entrants to access farming.
NFYFC hopes a cross-industry, collaborative approach to the issues raised will complement recent regional farm visits and discussions with farming businesses demonstrating financial and environmental viability.
The Route to Success survey was conducted earlier this year and surveyed 511 people, with the average age of respondents being 22 years old. Of those surveyed, 45% live or work in a farming household and 31% are students.