#STUDENTFARMER - January 2016

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22/12/2015 14:40

January 2016

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04 FARMING’S GAMECHANGERS 09 SCOTT MILLS AND CHRIS STARK 13 WEIRD AND WONDERFUL 14 LORD MAYOR’S SHOW 18 A TRIP TO MIDDLE EARTH 23 JAMES RHYS-BAYLIS 24 THE #STUDENTFARMER BURGER 30 SAINSBURY’S APPRENTICES 35 SAM’S FARMING ADVENTURE 36 NFU GRADUATES 39 WASTE NOT, WANT NOT 42 POSTER

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Thank you to…

Oliver Burston for our amazing cover that we can’t stop staring at and Dan Batchelor who cooked our burger.

Published by: NFU, Agriculture House, Stoneleigh Park, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, CV8 2TZ

Filled with words by: Victoria Wilkins, Sam Ette and Ben Pike

We’ve gone a bit off-piste in this edition – there’s no theme. This time we’re breaking the mould, and so are many of you. We’re daring to be different, and are saying goodbye to the conventional.

That’s why this edition we’ve highlighted some of our readers that are putting their own spin on the family farm businesses, and making sure they’re putting their name in the history books. But that’s not to say the past and tradition isn’t important – we’d be nowhere without learning from it, but you’re not tied to anything – you can be who you want to be, and agriculture needs people like you to drive it forward. I’ve sometimes been worried that we might come to a point where we have no-one to talk about, but 11 editions down the line I know that’s a ridiculous thought – young farmers never fail to surprise me and I’m proud to be involved with the industry as it is today. So never let anyone tell you to stop doing what you’re doing – write your own history and make our industry the best it can be. You can do it. Oh, and by the way, if that’s not enough, we created our own burger. It was amazing.

Designed by: John Cottle

To advertise contact: Alan Brown alan.brown@nfu.org.uk

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Victoria Wilkins Editor of #studentfarmer Email: studentfarmer@nfu.org.uk Facebook.com/StudentFarmer Twitter: @studentfarmer

22/12/2015 14:41

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#studentfarmer

Agriculture has some of the best brains in the world working at the heart of it. We’re not an industry to be taken for granted, and the times where it was thought alL farmers did was shout ‘get ofF my land’ are fading, and fading fast.

And as the landscape of farming is evolving, so must those within it, and those who want to be part of it. So we’ve met some of the newest and brightest brains in the industry who are determined to break the mould and make their mark on the farming world. Stand up and be counted young entrepreneurs of the land – let’s evolve the industry together.

SAM MOORHOUSE 23, SKYR YOGHURT Sam Moorhouse has been making a regular pilgrimage to Reykjavik, Iceland for around a year now. And it's all in the name of yoghurt.

The yoghurt in question? Traditional, Icelandic Skyr. High in protein, low in sugar and low in fat makes it a big hitter with the healthy crowd.

Sam was looking for a diversification project that could take his family’s farm in Skipton, North Yorkshire in a different direction, particularly into something more stable than the ever-fluctuating milk price.

He discovered Skyr after reading an article about the Icelandic dairy industry and did what any normal, inquisitive person would do. He got a plane to Iceland and wandered around Reykjavik asking if anyone knew how to make the yoghurt.

Standard? Yeah right.

That’s where he found Thorarinn Sveinsson who showed him the ropes of how to make the traditional product. He owns a Skyr factory in the North of Iceland and Sam went to work there for a week, getting hands-on with the product.

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Next task: convincing his parents that it was a good idea.

“My parents were having none of it,” Sam said.

“I paid for a lot of the initial stuff myself, so I was doing it off my own back. At that point they were letting me have a meeting with the bank manager. If I couldn’t convince anyone else to give us the money it wasn’t going to happen but luckily I put together a business plan and a marketing strategy.”

With no business background, it was pretty tough to get his head around the whole process of securing funding, marketing and all the other intricacies that

came with starting a new venture.

Learning as he went along, Sam’s advice for anyone giving diversification a go is that you have to do your research.

“If you’re thinking of starting up anything, whether it’s a product or service, you have to 100% research the market and make sure there is actually a market for it,” he said.

For Sam, it’s all about getting Skyr out into the public spotlight.His approach is simple: reach the maximum capacity of his current building and then take it from there. No doubt he’ll continue to bring a little part of Icelandic culture to Yorkshire, and hopefully beyond.

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January 2016

SAM BULLINGHAM 24, DAIRY FARMER You’d be called mad if you decided to leave your field less than a year after winning a world title, but Sam Bullingham has gone against the grain and left his comfort zone working with sheep and jumped straight into the world of dairy.

Crowned the ‘Young Shepherd of the Future’ and part of the England team that took top prize at the World Young Shepherd Challenge in 2014, Sam began contract heifer rearing only a few months after his victory.

Working in Bodmin, North Cornwall, the switch to dairy has coincided an opportunity to partner up with another farmer and potentially rent a farm between them.

“If you’d asked me six months ago if I wanted to start milking cows I would have said definitely not, thank you very much,” Sam said.

“You just have to give these things a go.

If I said I didn’t want to do any of these things in dairy I would have missed this

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opportunity. It might turn out I enjoy dairy more than sheep. You can’t knock it until you try it.”

Sam still has his flock of 200 Romney sheep at his home in Okehampton, Devon and has done what any sensible brother would do and got his sister to look after them while he’s not there.

With the cows at grass and only being milked once a day, it’s not a million miles away from his sheep operation, but he says the dairy is easier on his body.

“The sheep were harder to be fair.

It’s more physically demanding, and that’s how I would describe it. It doesn’t matter how mechanised your system is, you still have to handle them,” he said.

Changing what you work with or the sector you work in would be pretty daunting to most, so we asked Sam to give some advice on why you should explore your options and give it a go: “I would say to try it first. Before I committed to anything or even got involved with the dairy, I came to Cornwall and did around 15 milkings before I made a decision and

AMY TURNER 28, BLUESTONE BREWERY Rock solid. That’s how the Bluestone Brewery describes their ale, and we think they’ve hit the nail on the head.

Their decision to diversify part of their 200-acre Welsh hill farm into a brewery has turned our pretty well too.

Amy Turner grew up on the farm and left a job in Aberystwyth to return home and help kick start the brewery with her parents after deciding the farm wasn’t large enough to support the whole family.

With Amy’s three brothers all living abroad and no one to take over the farm, it made sense to move into something different. A quick chat with a fellow brewery owner and family friend did the trick, but it turns out they didn’t need too much convincing.

The brewery tries to do everything as naturally as possible and builds on the natural resources on farm. That ethos works pretty well when you’re based in the valleys of Pembrokeshire and have your own, private water supply from the Bluestone Hills.

“We’re local people who have diversified. We haven’t moved to the area thinking there’s a gap in the market,” she said.

“We actually are local people selling local beer from a local farm.”

Their local roots will remain, but the brewery are likely to go

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ultimately the jump into another sector,” he explained.

“It’s all knowledge. You have to speak to people about their experiences. No one goes in, unless they’re a bit silly, without looking into it a bit first.”

So if a world champion can leave his field of expertise, anyone can.

international soon, as they returned from the Shanghai Trade Mission in China with high hopes that it’ll be a profitable market for them in the future.

It turns out that the Chinese “love everything British” at the moment as well, according to Amy. Point noted.

Doing the simple things like using the natural environment to your advantage is an avenue to score “easy brownie points” and any budding business should definitely do it. Bluestone feed their waste to their farm animals and dispose of any chemicals they use naturally.

They’re also unveiling a full programme for their new music venue soon. Beer and music? Sign us up.

Amy’s diversification advice is simple: “The biggest thing you have to do at the start, because there are so many things to do, is to write a list and work your way through it.”

“Don’t just jump from thing to thing because you’ll drive yourself nuts.” Pretty rock solid advice.

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NICK LEEDS 22, KIWI BERRY FARMER A new crop is a lot of work. Just ask Nick Leeds, because he’s the man in charge of growing the kiwi berry at Wither’s Farm in Herefordshire.

You might not have heard of the kiwi berry.

That’s alright – neither did we at first. Let us fill you in.

It’s about the size of a grape, doesn’t have hairy skin, and tastes like a kiwi.

Pretty cool right?

Nick heads up a small team on his family’s 350-acre fruit farm in Ledbury in Herefordshire where they are producing 11 tonnes of the fruit from only 17 acres.

He’ll tell you that there’s plenty to contend with when growing something new on the farm.

The pruning and spacing were all issues when Nick and his dad George began growing the berry back in 2008, but they’ve got it down to a tee now and the fruit is proving to be pretty popular, being stocked in 200 Waitrose stores across the country this year.

Even with most of the techniques figured out, it can still drive Nick mad.

The branches tangle, A LOT. This means he has to spend a lot of time untangling them, before they tangle again. Infuriating.

“By the time you’ve finished untangling

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the whole field you have to go through and do it again. It’s constant untangling,” Nick explained.

“If you don’t untangle the branches you suddenly realise what you’re faced with and it took a while to realise. We haven’t allowed that to happen and this year has been really quite good.”

With the nation becoming increasingly conscious about their health and waistlines, diversifying into a product that is packed full of antioxidants and vitamins and is considered a super-fruit is a pretty sound idea.

This little fruit is pretty versatile too.

Nick says that they’re good in a smoothie,

in chutney or as a sauce to go with fish.

As well as taking care of the fruit, Nick also studied business studies at the University of Chester. Not one to waste a good opportunity, he used his responsibility of heading up the fruit as the topic of his dissertation.

Even though the kiwi berry is a niche fruit, Nick and his team at Wither’s Farm show that it’s still possible to introduce new produce to the market.

Currently travelling through the United States and through South America, maybe Nick will be on the lookout for something he can bring onto the farm and British shelves in the near future.

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#StudentFarmer meets...

SCOTT MILLS & CHRIS STARK ScotT MilLs and Chris Stark are a pretTy big deal. It’s an even bigGer deal that the pair have become ambasSadors for young farmers thanks to the YFC, and it turns out they’re getTing pretTy obsesSed with the whole idea.

Scott Mills

We wanted to become ambassadors for the YFC because it was something we’d been talking about for a while. Chris and I, over the past two or three years, have been going to A LOT of the young farmer events and every time we go it’s been full of just the friendliest and nicest people. We always have a blast. It’s a world we don’t know that much about and it kind of fascinates me because we work at Radio 1 and live in London – it’s a completely different life.

Every time you go and DJ at one of these gigs it’s always the best night. You’re never going to have a bad gig where farmers are involved – ever. The YFC AGM that we did in Blackpool was absolutely ridiculous. I know a lot of people see it as their holiday and they all descend on wherever the AGM is and have an amazing time.

SCOTT MILLS – This or that Get up early or stay up late?

Stay up late!

Farming or DJing?

DJing because I’d be useless at farming.

Leather or tweed?

Tweed.

My show in particular, at that time of day, is good because it can be quite a solitary experience doing what farmers do. People don’t listen to the radio in droves and it’s quite a one-on-one experience. Farmers, if they’re out on their tractors or in the field, they’re really listening because it’s kind of like a companion and it's part of their routine every day. Because we mention people occasionally and mention what they’re doing and talk to farmers, I feel like we're bringing the world of farming to the masses.

We did the student tour recently and we went to Harper Adams and it was brilliant – it was the best gigs we did. Ed Sheeran turned up. He was downing pints with the farming students and they were singing chants for him. He got so fully involved with it and I spoke to him afterwards and he just loved it and had the best time. You could see their faces that they couldn’t believe it was happening. I’ve been going to Harper for years playing gigs and it’s one of the ones I always look forward to.

Wellies or trainers?

Where I live – trainers. Where most farmers are, definitely wellies. I’ve ruined many a pair of trainers thanks to gigs with young farmers.

I think people don’t realise how many young farmers there are out there and it’s important to support them. We want to do everything we can in a fun way to bring it to people’s attention. I think it’s highlighting the work – a lot of work – that farmers do.

We're trying to bring it to people that don’t know about farming in a fun way because I think that’s probably the most accessible way to get them involved and give the public an insight into the farming world.

Shearing sheep or harvesting crops?

I think shearing sheep – I think that might be fun. I’d be useless at it, but also really scared. I definitely want to give that a go.

The way we were introduced to it was just the fact that we were going to loads of YFC gigs. Obviously they talk to you about the problems there are, and that’s not only with the actual farming, but there’s other things that become clear to me as well like the amount of depression there is. It’s blowing my mind because there’s so much going on.

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Chris Stark

I’ve worked at a lot of young farmers’ nights around the UK and because of that I’ve got to meet lots and lots of people. I feel like I’ve learnt more and more about their way of life and their livelihood and how they go about their daily business. It’s just built up over a period of time but we just feel that we’re in a different position to a lot of other people to be able to hopefully make a positive difference.

I was booked to DJ a night for some young farmers and I remember turning up in the middle of a field and thinking this is the most random gig ever. I turned up and there were about 1,000 young farmers and it was just an amazing, amazing night.

The craziest thing is that some young farmers’ gigs you’re in front of loads of people. Like at the AGM, where it’s 6,000 people and they’re all singing the words back to you. It’s the only time in my life I’ve ever felt like Beyoncé.

Chris Stark – This or that Getting up early or staying up late?

This is hard because I am really bad in the mornings so I’m going to have to say staying up late.

Farming or DJing?

I think either DJing at farmer gigs, or farming while DJing would be the dream.

Leather or tweed?

Leather makes me sound a bit weird so I’m going to have to say tweed.

Wellies or trainers?

Wellies!

Shearing sheep or harvesting crops?

Definitely shearing sheep.

Scott Mills reviews our #studentfarmer playlist from that time we went feet up friday. we're Not a big deal. honest.

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Avicii’s music sounds quite farmer-y. I can’t quite put my finger on why that is. I mentioned this once and ever since then it seems to be something that’s stuck so every time I go DJ a young farmers' gig I play Avicii and it goes down really well. It’s so bizarre because my Avicii parody took me ten minutes in the office and it’s not a great masterpiece but people go mad for it at gigs.

With young farmers, all they want is a party. There’s no point standing up DJing with your head down. That’s not what it’s about. They want it to be in their face and they want it to be lively and that’s what they expect. I think that’s why I really enjoy those gigs so much because it’s the kind of gig I’d want to be at and that’s what I love about DJing to young farmers.

The last AGM was probably the greatest gig of my life. It was insane. I kind of expected about 500 hardcore stragglers left over from the long weekend and I couldn’t believe it when I walked out into the room in Torquay. I DJ a lot of nights and some really stand out and that, for me, was probably a night I’ll remember for the rest of my life because it just doesn’t really get any better than that.

We want to learn as much as we can because we want to help and it’s just been interesting seeing a lot of the issues, both serious and not serious, that young farmers face. We both feel we can relate to them in a lot of ways as well despite the fact we had very different upbringings in a lot of cases. I guess what we want to represent is that you don’t necessarily have to grow up in farming, or even be a young farmer, to appreciate the great work that young farmers do.

Ghostbusters – Ray Parker Jnr

“One word. Yes.”

Lady Marmalade - Moulin Rouge soundt rack

“Yes.”

AlL the SmalL Things – Blink 182

“This Blink one is exactly the song I was talking about – kind of rocky. Farmers seem to like that .”

Back in Black – ACDC

“Oh okay, that’s a bit of a curveba ll.”

No DigGity – BlackstreEt

“Yeah, classic!”

Bye Bye Bye – N Sync

“I would have chosen that as one of my songs if I was on Feet Up Frid ay, so fair play.”

Milkshake – Kelis

“Good. I understand the connection there.”

06/01/2016 10:36

January 2016

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WEIRD AND WONDERFUL Loads of things happen in farming that make us do a double-take especialLy chickens in jumpers. Then there’s the stufF that makes us smile. Relive the best in farming news with our news round-up.

GROUND CONTROL TO MAJOR TIM

TINY CHICKEN JUMPERS, ANYONE?

When this story hit our desks, we laughed, we cried and then we realised there were animals in clothes. 25-year-old Nicola Congdon from Falmouth, Cornwall has knitted woolly jumpers – yes woolly jumpers – to keep her 60 hens warm during winter. After many of the chickens Nicola has adopted plucked their feathers out, she decided that they needed something to keep them warm. And knitted jumpers were the answer. Nicola said that the jumpers make the chickens easily identifiable and protect them against all elements. Only in 2016.

#STUDENTFARMER YOUNG schools edition HORTICULTURIST? they WANT YOU

Since the last edition of the magazine we’ve been busy working on an all-new edition of #studentfarmer, especially for 14-16-year-olds who are choosing their GCSEs. We want them to recognise that farming is a diverse and innovative industry, with some of the best and brightest working at the very heart of it. Even if you’re not a 14-16-year-old, you can still enjoy the magazine at www.issuu.com/ studentfarmer. It’s got a puppy in a flatcap on the cover – what more could you want?

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If you missed it, in December Major Tim Peake became the first British man to launch to the International Space Station. It’s a pretty big deal. We all watched the launch with wide-eyes and, if you were good, read our interview with American astronaut Mike Hopkins who set the story right about being in space. But something you might not know is that Major Tim will be tucking into a unique British-inspired menu during his six-month mission.

A competition, which was launched prior to Tim’s flight by the UK Space Agency, aimed to find exciting takes on British food that could be adapted into space food. Cool, huh? Heston Blumenthal and Tim picked the winners, and delicacies included a full English, disguised as a burger. Here's a photo of Mike Hopkins for good measure.

Young budding horticulturist under the age of 30? If you fit the bill, why not sign up for the Chartered Institute of Horticulture’s Young Horticulturist of the Year competition. The winner of the competition received a £2,500 travel bursary to undertake a trip anywhere in the world to study a subject related to their chosen field of horticulture. The competition is run in three phases: local heats, regional finals and the grand final, each with questions covering a wide range of horticultural subjects. Heat winners go forward to one of eight regional finals, and the winner of each regional final progresses to the final, which will be held on 7 May 2016 at the Glasnevin Botanic Gardens in Dublin.

06/01/2016 10:30

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A TRIP TO LONDON TOWN There might be those that think farming isn't a high-tech industry.

Without question, they're wrong. Meet the five farmers who marched in the Lord Mayor's Show to show just how evolved we are.

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huge 57% of adults don’t consider farming to be a hightech industry. We think that’s pretty poor. The NFU took a crack team of people to the Lord Mayor’s Show in London to prove that myth wrong.

Along with a pretty awesome John Deere four-track 9RX tractor (brand new, of course), we showed London that we’re all about

the technology. With the Worshipful Company of Farmers and John Deere, a trailer stock full of graphics showing how we use technology was pulled through the streets of the capital by a restored 4020 tractor from 1966.

From drones to GPS, the five young farmers who represented farmers had everything covered. And we think they're ace.

Chris Wray

Chris is an arable farmer and co-operatively farms 2,000 acres with two neighbours in South Lincolnshire. He’s the vicechairman of the NFU Holland (Lincs) county branch.

Chris uses GPS-controlled tractors and combines with precision application maps to apply seed and fertiliser based on the field's requirements to maximise the output on the farm while also protecting the environment. Chris also uses a drone to view his crops, identify any problems and improve them for the next year. He’s currently working on crop probes that will monitor the health of his crops in store and notify him remotely of any changes.

“It was awesome. The level of support that was extended to us was amazing. Some friends were with us and they noticed the forces got a good cheer, and so did the charities. The only people that got the equivalent were farmers,” Chris said.

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Emily Page

Emily is a trainee agronomist for Frontier Agriculture, the chairwoman for North Walsham Young Farmers Club and a young ambassador for farming charity You Are Not Alone.

After coming from a farming background, Emily went on to study graphic design at college and then at university. She also studied a masters degree and this was when she realised farming was where she belonged, so she went to Easton College to study agricultural management. She then landed her dream job as a graduate trainee agronomist with Frontier Agriculture.

Agronomy is embracing new technology by using drones to take detailed images of crops to help spot poor performance. With plenty of apps now available it’s even easier for farmers to identify pests and diseases and calculate seed rates.

“It was an incredible and surreal experience to be part of and I'm very proud to be able to say I helped showcase British farming as part of the parade. Every corner of the London streets we turned around we were greeted with a brilliant reception,” Emily said.

Jack Papworth

Jack studied agriculture at Easton and Otley College and is also a member of North Walsham Young Farmers Club.

Jack owns two pedigree Aberdeen Angus cows which he is breeding from and he is currently restoring a vintage David Brown tractor.

Jack has knowledge in both crops and livestock sectors, as well as in irrigation, potatoes, onions and carrots. Jack has used RTK signalling to plant and treat crops in the field and using the evapotranspiration gauge to monitor what has been happening on a daily basis, so the correct amount of water can be applied through the irrigation system.

“I thought that it was a wonderful experience for those young farmers involved and really well run by the people involved. It’s important because it helps educate those sections of the community that would otherwise have no knowledge of what happens in the farming industry,” Jack said.

Richard Bower

Richard works with his dad on a mixed 750-acre beef and cereals farm. He’s the chairman of the NFU’s next generation policy forum and since graduating from Harper Adams in 2008 he’s been hands-on with the family farm.

Richard recognised the need for a renewable energy source on the farm and helped drive forward the installation of solar panels and a new cattle handling system to aid the management of the cows and improve their welfare standards.

For his arable operation he uses GPS to plant the crops and to apply plant protection products. Richard uses a drone to take aerial images of his crops to monitor their growth and identify problem areas. Using his tablet he can record and monitor farm data via an app.

“I really enjoyed the show and it was brilliant to be a part of it. It was good to be down there and it’s really important for farmers to be there. There were lots of people out there and there were people cheering us. Any industry needs to keep communicating and farming’s always been at the forefront of technology,” Richard said.

Victoria Sercombe

Victoria has her own flock of 30 pedigree breeding ewes in the East Midlands.

She’s a member of Rearsby and District Young Farmers Club and is currently studying for her A-Levels. She has recently been offered a place at the University of Nottingham to study agriculture with livestock science.

Victoria’s flock of sheep is fully performance recorded using weight records, ultrasound analysis and CT scanning of the top 5% of lambs. After evaluating the data, she is able to breed improved lambs.

As well as promoting growth, muscle and fat, she can also focus on disease resistance and milk production.

She regularly competes in stock judging with Rearsby and District YFC and she also shows her Charolais sheep. She began showing sheep at the age of six in young handler classes with great success, winning the young handler section at the Royal Welsh Show.

“I really enjoyed the show, it was a really good experience. It was nice to take part in and see people spreading our message in the crowd,” Victoria said.

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magine tucking into your dinner and there’s knock on the door. It’s one of Peter Jackson’s film scouts, and he’s selected your farm as the one he wants to use to film The Lord of the Rings.

That’s right – cue internal screaming. Ben Pike visits Middle Earth.

"Mr Jackson likes the view you’ve got and he wants to film The Lord of the Rings on your farm,” the scout says, as he stands at the door of your farmhouse, atop an isolated hilltop surrounded by your fields of sheep.

It sounds ridiculous, but that’s exactly what happened to the Alexander family in the Matamata region of New Zealand’s North Island.

Not only did it happen, it happened twice. The Oscar-winning director was so in love with the scenery that he returned to film The Hobbit series more than a decade later.

What makes the story even better is that the family decided to make the most of the opportunity and have created what is perhaps the greatest farm diversification of all: Hobbiton.

And there might not be the likes of Frodo, Bilbo or Samwise running around, but the entire set is complete with Hobbit holes, Shires Rest and Green Dragon Inn.

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“Dad had never heard of Peter Jackson or the Lord of the Rings and shooed him off because it was the second half of the NPC rugby final” And funnily enough, this escape to Middle Earth is two hours from Auckland.

“We’re looking at seeing 300,000 visitors a year now,” said Craig Alexander, who still runs the sheep farm surrounding the tourist attraction which charges £32 per head for a tour.

“It doesn’t really get in the way anymore. I used to do a lot of work with the sheep around where the Shires Rest is situated, but every time I came to a gate there’d be a Japanese tourist there trying to take a picture of the film set. You just get used to

it and I try and keep it all separate from my day job.”

The farm is no small beer either. After lambing, Craig has 13,000 Romney sheep to look after, plus a 500-cow Angus cattle fattening unit overseen by his father.

“I’ve got two staff but I’ve had to go heavily down the technology route to manage the sheep farm,” he said.

Craig has three brothers – Russell, Ian and Dean. Russell is very much selfappointed ‘Lord of the Shire’ and in charge of managing the tourist attraction. Dean and Ian hand have moved south to develop alternative income streams by setting up a dairy businesses.

“I sit on the board for Hobbiton and we have a 50% share of the business with Peter Jackson owning the

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“Every time I came to open a gate for the sheep there’d be a Japanese tourist there trying to take a picture of the film set” other half. It did take a lot of investment and time to set it up, but you only get one shot at it so it had to be right," he said.

“Because of that, we haven’t put lots of money into the sheep and beef farm because we’ve been paying for the tourism and the dairies but hopefully now we can invest in the home farm.

"The move has given us diversity into sheep, beef and tourism which is quite a strong position and it’s all still within the family. If one of the industries gets really good we can expand.”

Despite being one of New Zealand’s most popular tourist attractions, it’s been designed in a way that it can blend in to the landscape and take minimal farmland out of production, with the set taking up five acres of the farm’s total 545.

He recalls the day the family got the knock on the door that changed his life.

“Dad had never heard of Peter Jackson or The Lord of the Rings and shooed him off because it was the second half of the NPC rugby final,” he said.

“Now we have an awesome relationship with him and we’ve never been messed around.”

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The three-month filming schedule began at the end of 1999 and, at its peak, 400 people were working on-site, including actors Sir Ian McKellen and Elijah Wood.

By 2002, Russell was running tours of the set for J.R.R. Tolkien fans from across the world. It was never intended as a tourist attraction, though, so when an agreement was struck to return to the farm in 2011 to film The Hobbit trilogy, the Alexanders decided that they wanted to make it a permanent fixture.

It is now immaculately presented and maintained by a team of gardeners who keep the set looking exactly as it did on the day filming began.

Tours, which begin on buses at the farm gate, leave every half hour during the New Zealand summer season and since the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey tourist numbers have increased yet further. Craig estimates that in the past 12 years the farm has had more than 800,000 visitors.

But he still has farming in his heart, and that’s where he spends his days.

“I’m still having to work 80-hour

weeks typically,” he said. “Although we all have a say in how Hobbiton is run, we try and stick to our own areas and let Russell run that side of the business.

“I would like to continue to expand the home farm but we’re in need of infrastructure before we take on any more land.

“We have taken the avenue of trying to develop and diversify as a family to give us the strength to go down whatever channel we want. It’s up to us how far it can go.”

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In the September edition we met James who made the move to south west Scotland to work as a self-employed shepherd, blogGing via on wWw.solwayshepherd.co.uk.

He’s been on his farming journey for a whole year, and his ambitions remain the same – self-sufFiciency is high on his list of priorities.

A

whole year has passed since we made the move to live and farm in Scotland, so for my second column, I thought I would take a quick look back at my fantastic first year as a shepherd.

As I write this, we're just coming to the end of tupping.

Last year›s lambing was a great success, especially considering it was my first, so the pressure is on to replicate our beginners luck! This year will be a massive step up. All being well, we'll be lambing over five times the amount of sheep, including the first of my newly-founded pedigree Lleyn flock and last year’s ewe lambs, which is exciting and daunting in equal measure. Unlike last year, I’ve had control over the whole process, purchasing two rams (a Lleyn and a Texel), rather than simply buying ewes in lamb like last year, so I’ve got all my fingers and toes crossed in the hope I’ve made good choices.

When we made the move, I became self-employed. Being your own boss is great, but one of the biggest challenges I've encountered (and I'll readily admit, I hadn't really considered) is cash flow. Setting up in business comes with a lot of outgoings, that don't necessarily create the corresponding incomes straight away.

I think the biggest challenge we’ve faced this year, like all farmers, has been the volatile market. With this being my first year as a lamb producer, I’ve known no different, but I’ve encountered many farmers locally who have seen massive reductions on their income. By lambing reasonably early, we were able to get most of our prime lambs away while the price was relatively strong, as a result we’ve dropped lambing

back by a couple of weeks to try and hit the market at the best possible time.

I've been very lucky to be one of the 50 young farmers to be accepted on to the third intake of the Tesco Future Farmer Foundation programme. Being a part of the Future Farmer Foundation is a fantastic opportunity, and I'm hopeful that the mix of business workshops, supply chain events and the opportunity to network with, and learn from, industry leaders will help me better prepare our business to face the challenges we›ve faced and will continue to face going forward.

I currently work on the family farm, do some contract shepherding, cattle and poultry work and fill what spare time I have with any writing work you can find. I also spent some

I've been very lucky to be one of the 50 young farmers to be acCepted on to the third intake of the Tesco Future Farmer Foundation programMe of the summer months learning to build and repair dry stone walls and am currently looking to get some dairy experience to enable me to add calf rearing and relief milking to my ever increasing repertoire.

If becoming self-employed is something you're considering upon leaving college or uni, I'd advise you to be prepared to multi-task! After a year of contract work, I'm now starting to work out where certain work dries up and trying to get the necessary skills to help me fill the gaps.

The next few months will be spent busily preparing for lambing, which will be upon us before we know it, so I plan to enjoy Christmas and New Year as much as possible, before I have to take up residence in the new lambing shed in February!

Follow James on his journey in his latest #studentfarmer blog, track his progress on Twitter @SolwayShepherd or find him on Facebook www.facebook.com/SolwayShepherd

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#studentfarmer

It’s no surprise that burgers are one of Britain’s favourite foods, and with good reason. We decided to make our favourite food ever, with a little help from some young producers.

I

t seems we set a precedent with the Best of British edition by creating our own roast dinner with help from young producers up and down the country.

And when we sat down in our little friendship circle to decide what we should do in the next edition (yes, we do it three times a year), #studentfarmer designer John was straight in there with: “Why don’t we make a burger?”

You don’t need to look at John’s Pinterest feed to know he likes a good burger (although you won’t find anything else other than burgers and Star Wars) –

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he’s the first in line at the canteen when Dexter burgers are on the menu in the NFU canteen. But it seems John isn’t alone in his love of burgers. We’re all familiar with them – a perfect accompaniment to a beer in a pub garden in the summer, and your uncle Dave’s pride and joy at the family BBQ – it’s no surprise that figures suggest that in America alone nearly 50 million hamburgers are eaten every year.

Of course, there at fast food chains in their millions, but the rise of the British pub grub burger can’t go unnoticed, and they’re a staple on menus up and down

the country. So yes, John was right when he suggested we create a burger. But the questions that followed included: what meat do we use? What bun should we use? Do we put an egg on it? We also asked whether we could realistically set a trend and make a burger with a Yorkshire pudding, but we left that idea well alone (decide for yourself whether it was a good idea or missed opportunity).

Now it’s time to unveil the king of burgers, the tastiest of the tasty and burger to blow all other burgers out of the water – the #studentfarmer stack.

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January 2016

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What’s between the bun?

1 x Hobbs House Bakery brioche bun 2 x British Dexter beef burgers from Dan's Kitchen 1 x large British tomato 1 x handful of mixed lettuce 2 x slices of Westcombe Dairy’s signature cheddar 1 x red onion 4 x rashers of Redborne Farm’s amazing bacon Lashings of Rubies in the Rubble spicy tomato chutney

Hobbs House Bakery ALL. THE. CARBS. Perhaps the most contentious question we had to ask ourselves when creating the burger was what type of bread we were going to use. Brioche or seeded? It was the most difficult decision we’ve ever had to make.

So we asked for both (obviously just to delay the decision-making process even longer).

If you haven’t heard of Hobbs House Bakery you’ve obviously been living under a rock. Home to the two Fabulous Baker Brothers, Tom and Henry Herbert, Hobbs House has been baking bread in the Cotswolds since the 1920s. And they’re bloomin’ good at it.

Five generations of bakers have worked the bakery, and the current fifth generation comes from a great grandfather changing trade from a blacksmith to a baker. They’ve been in Chipping Sodbury baking for over thirty years now.

But they say the burger trend is one thing that’s hit them, and hit them hard.

It was a whole five years ago they first noted the trend in burgers affecting the bakery, maximising on the trend by launching their burger buns at the Grillstock festival. The secret, they say, to a great burger is having the best bun. Their tip?

Make sure you've got a good soft and enriched dough.

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#studentfarmer

Rubies in the Rubble What’s a burger without a sauce? Rubbish, that’s what. Bringing some sweet, sweet chutney to the table is Jenny from relish making company, Rubies in the Rubble. You might remember Jenny from our Best of British edition. She’s the one that makes the chutneys from fruit and vegetables that would’ve been thrown away because they looked rude, wonky or weird. As far as Jenny’s concerned, the ruder-looking the vegetable the better.

“The products we’re using are surplus items below specification – but they’re just as good as anything you can find on the supermarket shelf,” she said.

Jenny started the company after she had a bit of a eureka moment while travelling on the tube reading an article on food waste. So she thought about what she could do to play her part. Her answer came in the form of Rubies in the Rubble, which is now stocked in several stores up and down the country, including Waitrose. Jenny is determined to change the nation’s outlook on food waste one chutney at a time, and wants people to think differently about lumpy and bumpy vegetables. And take it from us, their chutney is AMAZING.

Dan Batchelor, Dan’s Kitchen, Warwickshire When we needed a burger supplier, we knew exactly who to call – if anyone knows burgers it’s Dan Batchelor. Dan is the chef at NFU HQ, and believe you me, when there’s Dexter beef burgers on the menu, there’s a fight to be first in the queue.

Dan grew up on a family beef and sheep farm in Warwickshire, where his dad Peter still farms and shows his prized flock of sheep. And that’s where Dan’s love of food started.

“Ever since I can remember I’ve loved food and cooking. I’ve been a chef since I was 15 and I’ve never looked back,” Dan said.

We suppose it was a good job Dan had a back-up plan – this would-be astronaut quickly discovered that exploring space wasn’t his thing and settled for a career in food instead.

But it was only four years ago that Dan started producing burgers from his father’s beef cattle.

Seeing an opportunity Dan wanted to make fresh ready meals from the meat the farm produced and started showcasing his food.

“I started taking the food to farmers markets and took the burgers there as well. But there was so much demand for the Dexter burgers that I just focused on those.”

Skip a few years down the line and Dan now has his own trailer, and a business aptly named Dan’s Kitchen. He’s a regular at the totally cool Digbeth Dining Club (check it out if you're a foodie), and has a permanent spot on the NFU’s canteen menu.

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Ben Williams, Redborne Farm, Bedfordshire Oh bacon, how we love you. If we could have bacon with everything, we would.

The first thing we knew we wanted in the burger was bacon, and we didn’t care what type – as long as it was British.

Redborne Farm, which is a school farm in Bedfordshire, just happened to hear our plea for help and sent us bacon in the box load (we’ve never been so excited to receive mail). Ben Williams is one of the young teachers working on the farm, and he’s been teaching there for five years. This is kind of weird considering he trained to be a marine biologist.

“My only farming background prior to teaching was some relief milking at a couple of dairy farms in Shropshire when I was 14. I absolutely loved it,” Ben said.

There are 100s of students working on the farm – 20 of them are taking a course in farming and the rest are made up of would-be agronomists, vets, geneticists and more. Students run the farm day-to-day, including livestock husbandry to producing the products for sale in the shop.

Ben and his team of students produce dozens of pork product from their collection of rare breed pigs made up of Saddlebacks and Large Blacks, including sausages, bacon and ham. They also have a breeding flock of ewes and sell their own lamb direct to the customer. Add to this their flock of laying hens and they’ve got a pretty diverse selection.

What makes the best burger? Amazing bacon of course. True that.

Adam Oram, cheesemaker, Westcombe Dairy Cheese, glorious cheese. Cheddar? Stilton? Red Leicester? We don’t care – all of them!

Just not the plastic type, says cheesemaker Adam Oram from Westcombe Dairy.

If you’re planning on inviting Adam to your barbecue anytime soon, don’t be surprised if he turns up his nose at your homemade burger. You may have gone to great lengths to sourcing some lean mince and herbs and spices, but being a professional cheesemaker, slapping on a slice of processed cheese is a big no-no. Fresh, locally-produced cheese is where it's at.

“I think if you’ve got a decent burger, don’t put plastic cheese on it, put some decent cheese on it and add some flavour,” he said.

You can’t really argue with the logic. Adam, who lists lamb and mint as his burger of choice, has been in the cheese-making business now for six years, having moved to Somerset-based Westcombe Dairy after working part-time in a factory.

You can tell when speaking to him how passionate he is about the cheese that he's helped to create.

In our #studentfarmer burger, we’ve used Westcombe Cheddar which comes with a description hard to ignore – “This cheese is often called a five-mile cheese, as you’re still tasting it five miles down the road”. Strong stuff then.

“It’s a good thing,” said Adam. “There’s nothing wrong with a mature cheddar. The amount of time you give it to mature, has a massive impact on the flavour, and this tastes absolutely gorgeous.

“It is such a well-known cheese, it just tastes great and much better than mass produced cheese. There really is no comparison. I just don’t buy cheese in the supermarket anymore.”

This particular cheddar, fact fans, is Westcombe’s signature product, made almost identically as it was on-site 100 years ago, has PDO status and an even rarer Artisan Somerset Cheddar designation, and is made from Holstein-Friesian cows.

The cheese itself is allowed to age 11-18 months and costs £19 per kilo.

Adam, who actually specialises in Caerphilly, is clearly proud of this product and the rest of the range at Westcombe.

“When we produce the cheese that we do, you can tell the difference in flavour.

When you make a nice cheese, it’s rewarding and you can definitely take pride in it.”

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#studentfarmer

Young farmers assemble UnlesS you’ve been living under a rock, you’lL have seen we need an extra 60,000 farmers by 2020. That’s why you – yes you – are so important. This year, Sainsbury’s has launched their first farming apprentice scheme, so we got to know the new recruits.

George Symes 16, Holbrook Farm, Bristol Dad jokes can be bad at the best of times. When you’re working with your dad and he’s cracking them left, right and centre it can become a bit tiresome.

But that’s one of the only downsides of working with your family, according to George Symes.

George, who also works with his grandad on their dairy farm in Wick, near Bristol, is aiming to become the family’s third generation of dairy farmers and is serving his apprenticeship on the farm, milking 110 cows.

“The communication is quite good especially as we live with each other as well. It’s nice working with family as well, rather than going into the workplace where you don’t know people,” George said.

“There are occasions when you might not be in the best of moods and you don’t get a joke from your dad or your grandad and it might be taken the wrong way.”

It’s a varied life working on the farm, and after some calves escaped he was forced into the festive spirit.

“Over the festive period the calves went into the local Christmas tree area so we had to go through all the trees and get them back. That took about three hours,” he said.

On the scheme he added: “The courses that Sainsbury’s offered me were better than agricultural colleges I was looking at. There were a lot more animal-based units."

Chasing after cows is all good, but we don’t think that’s what George anticipated when he chose the more animal-based course.

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Chris Chipatiso 23, Knaplocks farm, Somerset Chris Chipatiso has taken a more unusual route into farming than most. For those living in the financial powerhouse that is London, agriculture isn’t the go-to career.

He’s embarking on a less-travelled route and is now working on a poultry farm in Somerset as one of Sainsbury’s agriculture apprentices.

A year at Writtle College did nothing but grow his interest in the farming world and the next logical step was to get on farm and get his hands dirty.

“It was a huge and drastic change for me. A lot of people didn’t understand why I wanted to do it and people thought I was crazy for doing it,” Chris said.

“The initial image they have of farming is that it isn’t really a job that people my age, or from my background, would consider doing. It’s looked at as an old person’s job, that it’s dirty and they don’t see the benefits.”

Being stuck in an office in one of London’s countless skyscrapers wasn’t his cup of tea, he’d much rather be outside (who wouldn’t) – and that’s where his

passion for farming was formed.

“It was just being outside and learning where the food comes from, how it’s actually made and the whole process that interested me. Plus being outside and not being cooped up in a suit and tie,” he explained.

Turned away from careers advice centres because they “don’t do farming in London” didn’t deter Chris, but it could have set back many from pursuing their dream. What were we saying about careers

advisers again? Yeah, that.

He thinks the whole sector needs to be marketed better in the capital, and the opportunities are there. Writtle College is only based in Essex, a mere hour outside London.

Chris is a pretty good advert for those closet farmers in London. So anyone stuck in a city wouldn’t go too far wrong in following his lead and getting stuck into the farming life.

James Colclough 16, Bank Farm, Cheshire Even at the tender age of 16, James Colclough is already dreaming of becoming a farm manager and taking charge of his own operation.

Working on the 500-acre family dairy farm in Sandbach, Cheshire, James is

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familiar with the routine having grown up and worked on the farm.

“I enjoy my farm work and everything, but when I’m older my aspirations are to become a farm manager and expand in the future,” James said.

“I think at the end of the day, farming is a business. Farming gets a bit of a bad rep because the farmer does all the work, but as a business you don’t see the person who runs Sainsbury’s sat on the till. If you want to manage a business you have to spread out the work and give it to the right people.”

He’s embracing the old saying ‘like father, like son’ and learning from the current boss of the farm – his dad.

James does have some bones to pick with the industry though, including getting the public more engaged.

He said: “If there’s more interest from the public, there’ll be more interest in where their food comes from and if they know the food comes from the right place they’ll want to buy it from there.”

He also told us that you don’t have to get your hands dirty to be involved with farming. If a suit and tie is your thing, you could be a nutritionist. There are jobs for anyone in farming, he said.

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Lizzie Brass 20, The Lakes Free Range Egg Company, Cumbria Ignorance is bliss, the old saying goes. For farming, it's the complete opposite, and it’s harbouring a bad reputation for farmers according to Lizzie.

Lizzie Brass is working on her parent’s poultry farm in Penrith, Cumbria, and feels that now, more than ever, it’s important that young people consider farming as a potential career.

“Many people have very harsh opinions on farming and animal welfare in the UK and EU, yet most don’t fully understand how good modern farming can be,” she said.

“I chose farming as a career because that’s where my passion lies and that’s something you can’t teach.”

Having grown up with the birds, Lizzie could be considered a natural when it comes to hens and her daily duties involve collecting eggs, maintaining machinery and caring for the animals themselves.

Being hands-on means lends Lizzie to believe she’ll learn plenty beyond the curriculum of the scheme such as the best way to handling animals and learning about their behaviour.

It’s this that makes her think that an apprenticeship is one of the best routes into farming and agriculture, and can be a great advertisement for the industry.

“It’s important for people to consider farming as a potential career because without it nobody could survive," she said.

"It’s a hard industry where you will only get the best product through hard work but it’s one of the most rewarding careers too.

“The opportunities are endless, and the industry is constantly growing and developing.”

With thousands of new farmers needed in the industry, the more people taking up agricultural apprenticeships will be more than welcomed.

Rob Johnson 19, Belton Layers farm, Rutland Rob Johnson’s been bitten by the poultry bug, and he’s been bitten hard.

Over the years he’s heard tales from his gran and his dad about the old family farm, and after listening to their stories it inspired him to get involved with farming himself.

Working at Belton Layers farm in Oakham, Rutland, poultry isn’t just a job for him, it seems like it’s turned into a full-blown obsession.

“My love for poultry has grown so much I would like to eventually be able to do it for myself. In poultry, there’s so much involved. It’s not just birds laying eggs, collecting them and sending them off,” he said.

“You have to make sure the health is okay, you learn about the chicken itself and how the body works and the food, making sure the food goes well with how the bird performs.”

Farming must run deep in the family as Rob took over the position on the farm from his brother, after he left to pursue a career in undertaking, and there’s only a hint of sibling rivalry.

“I’m better than him. He’s not a farming type. He was there to make money. I took over and I enjoy it so I put more time into it.

I’m there all the time really,” he said.

“It’s an industry to be in because it’s so interesting, but people don’t understand it. It’s not a glamorous job to be in people think but really it’s a lot more than people make out.”

With a level two diploma in animal care already under his belt, and another qualification from the apprenticeship hopefully on the way Rob will have made a pretty good start to getting his very own poultry farm.

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Starting at the NFU meant that Sam EtTe was forced to build on standing in a field at Glastonbury as his only on farm experience, he telLs us how he’s got on so far

M

y only real experience of standing in fields for an extended period of time is a shameful amount of hours on a golf course. For the record, I was actually playing golf and not stood there like a weirdo.

You can add to that many years spent at Glastonbury Festival as well, but sipping warm lager and listening to the Arctic Monkeys on the pyramid stage while it pours down with rain is quite a stark contrast to what normal people would do on a farm.

So I think it’s been made abundantly clear that agriculture was never really my thing.

But since starting at the NFU in September, friends and family will ask me: “So, how are the farmers?” So maybe it’s starting to become my thing.

Much to the annoyance of my friends, conversation at the pub may stray from the standard chat of football and aggressive debates over what we rate particular foods out of 10 to farming and agriculture.

If you asked them, they’d probably say that they don’t actually have an interest in farming but as soon as the conversation starts you can be sure they have an opinion on it, and a pretty strong one at that.

I think what I’ve learnt in my short time working in the industry is that the topic of farming and agriculture may not be one that's first to be talked about at the dinner table, but almost everyone has an opinion on it and it plays an integral part in people’s lives because, obviously, they eat and drink.

I was well and truly thrown in the deep end when I began.

Especially seeing as I arrived into the department the day the NFU's flagship magazine, BF&G, went to print.

Since then, I’ve pretty much been given the freedom to find any story and roll with it, as long as it’s worth writing about.

My trips often get called ‘jollies’ by some in the office, but I think they’re all just jealous they don’t get to do all the fun stuff I do (journalism is the job to be in if you want to do some cool stuff, by the way).

Despite being a farming newbie, my education has been swift and thorough by sending me out to as many places as possible for stories.

It’s been a pretty varied job. I’ve travelled to Herefordshire to visit the farm where they grow kiwi berries (you can read more about those on page five), I’ve visited a major turkey farm which produces that lovely bird you get on the table at Christmas time, I’ve accompanied a school visit to a farm and I’ve been to a super-dairy, which was well, super.

I'm sorry – I haven't told you about one of my visits purely

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My trips often get calLed ‘jolLies’ by some in the ofFice, but I think they’re alL just jealous they don’t get to do alL the fun stufF I do because I'm still too excited about the amount of free food they gave me.

I went along to visit a couple who run a group of five pubs in Lincolnshire. What made these pubs so special was the fact that the owners stock their pubs with meat they produce on their own farm.

Michael, the owner of the five pubs, took us around a couple of them including the oldest one from 11th century and he knew every inch of history about the place. He was clearly extremely passionate about his pubs and their history, but he also loved the food that he’d produced on his farm.

The free food was certainly a massive positive for me (obviously), but as he toured us around his pubs reciting stories from the 1300s it dawned on me that going round and meeting these sorts of people would be the best sort of agricultural education I could get.

I’ll finish this blog off by encouraging all of you to try and get out to as many different places as possible. You never know what sort of stories you might find and what you might learn.

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YOUNG BLOOD

The latest NFU graduate scheme recruits telL us about their placements within the organisation

ELEANOR BIRCH

Fun fact: We sell beef and lamb and yet in my family four out of seven of us are vegetarian.

I’ve always loved the family farm. But when I first walked into the milking parlour I thought it was disgusting. Since then I’ve grown to absolutely love it and I work there in the holidays.

I applied for the graduate scheme because I wanted something that involved the environment and agriculture. I chose the NFU because they have good social responsibility and it’s important for me to not work for a company that are trying to rip people off.

I think the NFU is really working for the good of their members. They try to represent people that aren’t always particularly good at representing themselves. Farmers are a great bunch of people and don’t deserve the reputation they get. I’m working on the NFU’s farm broadband and mobile networks project. Nobody knows how bad it is in rural areas. What I’ve been doing is getting case studies to outline the issues. If we're able to give examples from real people, then it holds much more weight when we challenge government. This is the thing about the graduate scheme, it provides you with opportunities. If I hadn’t applied for this scheme I never would have done anything with broadband. It’s good at immersing you in something you’re not familiar with. And that's good.

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SAM ETTE

Fun fact: My local chippy at uni (Sheffield, represent) is owned by the cousin of legend Sean Bean.

I knew I wanted to do something in the media but not exactly what. That’s why I went for this scheme because it gives you some experience in marketing, communications and journalism.

I’ve been writing for British Farmer and Grower and #studentfarmer so I’m in my comfort zone after studying journalism at university. I’ve been lucky enough to go out and meet people with some awesome stories.

I’ve been out to a turkey farm, tasted new fruit and visited 800-year-old pubs. With this scheme, you’re not just stuck in the office and you’re trusted to go out and visit farms, go to events and report from conferences.

We’ve been given loads of opportunities to see how the organisation works. I’ve been to Brussels to visit our office there and got to go around the EU Parliament. We got taken to Nigel Farage’s pigeon hole as well. It turns out he’s not great at picking up his mail.

Everyone at the organisation is so welcoming and I had no problem settling in. All the graduates are in the same boat so it’s good to have everyone around for at least the first six months at HQ.

RACHEL HIBBERD

Fun fact: I swam with sea turtles in the Great Barrier Reef, and skydived and waded through caves lit by glow worms in New Zealand.

I applied because I thought it was a career not a job. It’s got good potential to move in it and move up higher and I thought it would open up lots of opportunities. It was good for me because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do so I thought this would give me experience of lots of different things.

I’m currently planning the launch event for the dairy roadmap. It’s a report on the environmental targets and achievements of the dairy industry. It was hard at first because I didn’t really know what it was and I’d never done anything to do with dairy before. I thought I was going to be mapping out where cows go on roads.

They throw you in at the deep end and you have to get on with it. I’m included in everything the dairy team do. They treat me on an equal level to their own and they don’t look down on you.

It’s such a friendly bunch of people. There are loads of different experiences and it’s nice to have the group of graduates together at Stoneleigh so we can support each other if stuff gets tricky.

GEMMA BOWER

Fun fact: I like to think that being fluent in Spanish is quite fun? I lived in Chile and Spain as well.

It was the marketing and communications more than anything that attracted me to apply. I wanted to work for someone who is passionate about looking after who they work with and not being about loads of money.

The annual conference is coming up in February. I'm working with an external agency to design a member zone for it. Then I’ll liaise with other NFU departments to put messages in the zone.

I think the scheme is good because you have a two-year programme laid out for you.

You get a taster of four different departments in marketing and communications which are all very different. The fact you get to move around the organisation and also have experience in a regional office means you get a varied experience. The canteen is great too, and that’s a big plus.

You get to go out a lot. I’ve managed to go to a lot of the national events to help set up.

So you’re not just stuck in the office.

ZOE MELDRUM

Fun fact: Colin Firth once visited my house, THE ONE DAY I wasn’t there.

There’s not a graduate scheme like this in Scotland. I thought the NFU was the only kind of organisation where I could change the policy, or at least help and try to change the policy.

When it gets put in at an EU level it’s very difficult to see how it would influence an individual farmer.

When I worked in the agricultural department in Scotland it was really depressing. I felt like I was adding insult to injury and rubbing salt in the wounds, but it was a good chance to see legislation and why it wasn’t working for individual farmers.

It’s a really rare opportunity to be given quite a bit of responsibility.

You get given loads and loads of opportunities, something you probably won’t see in a lot of other graduate schemes.

I’ve met lots of people and everyone’s been really, really great.

Obviously I’m Scottish so people are like why are you working for the NFU? Everyone has been really welcoming.

It’s not just making cups of tea either. Well, there is a lot of tea making but it’s more reciprocal.

For more information on the graduate schemes and when to apply visit www.nfuonline.com/jobs/nfucareers.

Applications close on 31 January

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06/01/2016 10:27

January 2016

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

39

AlL hail the wonky veg with lumps and bumps in alL the right places, says Georgie Gater-Moore

W

hen I was asked to write a blog for #studentfarmer, it didn’t take long for me to think of something to get the creative juices flowing.

It’s hard to ignore the constant topic of food waste in the UK, which has blown up recently on social media, news and TV. One third of all the food we produce in the UK is wasted, and I can’t help but wonder why. I believe that supermarkets have a massive part to play in this issue. They offer us big bags of potatoes, and vegetables, multi-packs of meat conditioned to look the same so that we feel there is some strange uniformity to the natural products we are eating.

The general public appear to be obsessed with ‘value for money’, choosing to buy an extra pack of bacon because it’s free, not because they plan to eat 16 rashers of bacon in one sitting (although I’ve got pretty close!).

Inevitably, there will always be those sad-looking carrots or tomatoes that sit in the fridge for a few days past their best, waiting for you to close the bin lid on their mushy existence.

We’ve all been there.

One third of all food produce seems like a difficult amount to comprehend, but for farmers that produce fruit and vegetables for the big supermarkets, this third would mean all their produce that is turned away because it doesn’t conform to supermarket aesthetics.

Apparently the customer doesn’t want to eat ‘ugly’ veg. They don’t want the flavour that fat brings to their meat because fat is bad, and more fat would mean less meat for their money, and they don’t like that. So what’s the answer? Do we bag

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The general public apPear to be obsesSed with ‘value for money’, choOsing to buy an extra pack of bacon because it’s freE, not because they plan to eat 16 rashers of bacon in one sitTing up ugly veg and sell it cheap as ‘soup’ vegetables, so that all their blemishes and wonkiness can be blended away? Do we continue to cut off the ‘excess’ fat from lamb, beef and pork at the abattoir so that Joe Bloggs can have his perfectly formed, identical lamb chops for tea? We’ve come so far from just having a butchers and a greengrocers on the high street. But I think that’s the problem.

‘Back in the old days’ you could go into a butchers and ask for the precise number of bacon rashers, steaks, lamb chops, that you wanted. You don’t feel compelled to buy more than you need because they aren’t sold in big packs that get opened and then left to fester in the fridge.

A lot of people say that the consumer wants convenience, quick and easy meals for the working family. My local butcher certainly sells pre-prepared cuts of meat, marinated or stuffed, stir fry mix, a variety of fresh, quality products that only need to be put in the oven if you’re not feeling up to much that evening.

I believe that if we want to combat this problem of excessive waste, we should turn to more local sources of food. Support your local butchers – they’ll sell a lot more than just plain old cuts of meat. As farmers we need to get the message out there that fat isn’t bad, it’s flavour.

A bit of wonk in your carrot just reminds you it’s come out of the ground and not a factory where so much of our food is now processed and made to look ‘pretty’.

22/12/2015 14:58

To those that work in

ACRES HOURS and not in

WE SALUTE YOU

www.nfuonline.com

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22/12/2015 14:59