Field trip
Learning at Loddington After almost a year of being NFU Student & Young Farmer Ambassadors, the group met in real life for the first time to find out about the environmental practices that will help them to protect UK farming in the future. Huw Hopkins reports.
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t took long enough! After this cohort of Student & Young Farmer Ambassador Programme was appointed last year, they spent much of their experience behind computer screens. Appearances on BBC television, radio and in magazines and newspapers meant the ambassadors kept up the profile of the NFU throughout the year, and their social media activity has helped members keep an eye on their activity. But nothing beats in-person learning, and the ambassadors had the chance to do that at the Allerton Project at Loddington near Leicester. Joe Stanley invited the group on site for his first task after taking over from former NFU Environment Forum Chair Phil Jarvis. “It was great to have the ambassadors here,” said Joe. “I’m enthusiastic that we need to support passionate young people in agriculture. “The Allerton Project has an educational remit to pass on the knowledge that we develop here to the farming industry and the ambassadors are going to be future leaders of the industry. It’s great to be able to have them here and pass on some of the skills and ideas we’ve developed over the years that we think are going to be
important to sustainable farming.” The day began with a tour of the farm, where the ambassadors were shown around the orchard, where sheep were grazing. From there, the group heard about soil erosion and the ways you can reduce it, and the development of field margins to improve biodiversity. It was the first public tour that Joe was running by himself, but already he was well-versed in what was growing on farm. He said: “I’ve been immersing myself in a lot of the trial data we’ve run here over the years. I’ve taken over from Phil Jarvis, who continues to be a strong supporter of the NFU and the project. I followed Phil around on a few of his final tours and September 2021
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