People

people Major financial boost to agricultural apprenticeships by AGCO

Agricultural machinery manufacturing giant AGCO (NYSE:AGCO) is continuing to support the Further Education sector by affiliating with an additional two colleges and injecting heavy investment into their agricultural engineering apprenticeship schemes.

At a time when many agricultural manufacturers are bringing their apprenticeship training in-house, AGCO has partnered with SRUC Barony in Scotland and Riseholme College in Lincolnshire to help offer budding new agricultural engineering apprentices the chance to embark on a full career path with AGCO, offering City & Guilds diplomas at a venue closer to home.

With the worldwide demand for food predicted to increase 60% by 2050, AGCO understands that the demand for highly skilled and talented agricultural engineers to ensure that the industry’s advanced and complex machinery will meet that goal has never been greater.

AGCO’s Training and Development Consultant, Charlie Rollason said: “Supporting four dedicated centres of learning makes perfect sense to AGCO. With these two new partners coming on board, supplementing WCG Moreton Morrell in Warwickshire and Coleg Cambria Llysfasi in Wales, and with a major investment by both AGCO and our learning partners, we aim to offer the same high standard of manufacturer supported learning in convenient locations throughout the UK rather than at one centralised hub.”

AGCO is also welcoming a growing number of people who are embracing the challenges of being an agricultural engineer and retraining in this much-valued and sought-after occupation. They have started working closely with Forces Farming, an initiative created to help exservices personnel transition into the agricultural sector.

New survey aims to highlight farmer and crofter wellbeing

With increasing concerns around farmer and crofter wellbeing, as pressures build in the industry, a range of agricultural partners have come together to launch a survey to better understand the needs and concerns of Scotland’s farmers and crofters, with the view of introducing a new wellbeing programme in 2022/23.

The research follows on from the successful “drought, adversity and breaking new ground” tour that took place in winter 2018 and saw over 2000 farmers attend one of fourteen events to hear New Zealand farmer Doug Avery, talk about his own challenges with mental health and wellbeing.

After the tour, a steering group was established to review the learnings, chaired by beef, sheep and arable farmer, John Scott of Fearn Farm, Ross-Shire.

“Agriculture is facing unimaginable change that will impact generations and could require complete restructuring of farming practices. Many of these challenges we can’t control, they will happen regardless of how well we rear our livestock, grow our crops or manage our finances. This significantly impacts the way we think and farm, it tests our resilience and can, at times, take us down a dark path when we feel overwhelmed, anxious or simply just knackered,” said John Scott.

“When Doug visited Scotland, we were astounded by the response, highlighting the appetite from farmers and crofters, to better understand how we can manage our own wellbeing through shared learning, events and resources. This new survey will give us insights to understand how farmers and crofters are feeling, what type of activities and resources would best support them and how they should be delivered.”