In a recent industry seminar organised by Lantra Scotland, the sector skills council for the land-based, environment and aquaculture sectors, major employers from across the food & drink, land and aquaculture sectors all agreed that investing more in Scotland’s young people was key to addressing industry wide skills shortages.
In 2013, Lantra published a research report which indicated a rise in employer demand for technical and commercial skills, as Scotland’s land-based and aquaculture industries seeks an estimated 30,000 new entrants by 2020. The report summarised some of the environmental, social and political drivers which are bringing about an unprecedented need for labour, including demographic changes and the need for food security, influenced by climate change and a rapidly rising world population.
The seminar, chaired by Brian Pack O.B.E, took place shortly before the Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards 2013, and brought together a panel of seven industry speakers to share their views on how an industry, losing skilled labour and management to retirement and attrition, can find the workforce of the future.
All the speakers unanimously agreed that investing in young people was critically important to building a highly skilled, effective workforce to drive the sector forward. The panel discussed the need for the industry to be more proactive when highlighting career opportunities and vocational routes into work among young people and their mentors, as well as providing more opportunities for ‘entry-level’ work experience from employers.
Brian Pack O.B.E began the debate by commenting on the scale of the skills issue facing the industry, and the need for investment in young people to turn things around:
“I believe the key to the success of the land-based and environment sector has always been the quality of the staff and management involved within it, with skills developed on the job with experience supplemented with mentoring. Official statistics show that 22 percent of the workforce are qualified to SVQ Level 4 or above, compared to 42 percent of the national average. Just over 20 percent have no qualifications compared to 7 percent across all sectors. Moreover, Lantra has estimated that 30,000 more people could be required by 2020, so the sector clearly faces a major challenge. Key to meeting this challenge is ensuring the people we have an influence over and responsibility for reach their full potential through the acquisition of experience and knowledge. There is no doubt that by exposing young people to industry relevant work experience and opportunities early on in their lives will go a long way to attracting new talent into the sector.”
Gary Mitchell, Milk Convenor National Farmers Union Scotland, commented on some of the skills challenges facing him as a dairy farmer, and some of the solutions he believes will make a difference:
“We bring 150-200 kids onto our dairy farm every year. One of the challenges we face is attracting local talent to our farm and I believe the challenge starts in schools. Teachers and career advisors often lack understanding of the farming sector, which often means kids are not getting the quality of information they need to make sensible career choices. What we need are new initiatives to introduce kids to farming at an early age, working with schools and parents to provide hands on experience and knowledge about farming and the career opportunities on offer. There are many young people looking for this kind of work but the opportunities simply aren’t there, so farmers must be more willing to take on young people and give them a chance.”
Jim McLaren, Chairman of Quality Meat Scotland, talked about why employers should be investing in vocational skills to help meet the global opportunities within the food and drink sector:
“There are over 65,000 people employed on farms, with 1 in 10 people dependent on the agriculture sector in Scotland. It is a huge industry and a huge opportunity for our young people to get involved. And the opportunities will only improve. The demand for food is on the rise as the world population creeps towards 9 billion.
We are also seeing a rapid rise in demand for high quality, traceable food from Scotland. To effectively seize this opportunity we need, young, enthusiastic people to drive the sector forward, but attracting talent has always been a challenge. We must do more to expose young people to the significant career opportunities in farming, and the merits of a vocational route into work.
Young people must weigh up their options – extending their academic qualifications with a degree or masters at university, and the reality of an average student debt of £40,000, or going straight into a job after school with a sensible salary and extensive career opportunities. Both can lead to successful careers but the point is there is more than one way to a successful future.”
It was also agreed young people needed support from a sizeable network of influencers along their career journey, from parents and teachers in the early years to college tutors, careers advisors and employers later down the line.
In addition, the point was made that industry had to work harder to attract talent from outside traditional land-based families to compete with other industries facing similar skills shortages and who are actively recruiting from a shared talent pool.
Finlay Ross, winner of last year’s Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Award, commented:
“90 percent of the kids on my course were from farming backgrounds. I think one of the biggest challenges facing the sector is encouraging young people from non farming families to consider agriculture as a career. We need an industry wide partnership with everyone working together towards the same goal. For me the key elements that encouraged me to get into agriculture were early exposure, having the opportunity to gain work experience, mentoring from employers who can pass on expertise, and finally training, so I could acquire the necessary qualifications and skills. We also need to talk our industry up – we are competing with other sectors such as the oil and gas industry, the army and trades who seem to be much better and recruiting than us. Farming needs to step up and compete so we can tap into the talent we need.”
The panel also discussed some of the latest initiatives in place to develop skills and build experience such as; the ‘Certificate of Work Readiness’ developed by Skills Development Scotland, a pre employment course that bridges the gap between school and work, work experience schemes such as Ring-link, SOAS and Aberdeenshire Council’s Land-based Intern Programme, a six month course that provides industry specific training to attract new entrants, from which students can progress into the Modern Apprenticeship Programme, a framework combining practical ‘on the job’ training, with accredited academic qualifications supported through colleges and training providers.
Fiona Stewart, Skills Development Scotland, talked about the Modern Apprenticeship scheme:
“The Modern Apprenticeship Framework supports workplace learning – a day job with the opportunity to undertake an industry recognised qualification to gain the competencies required by the industry. Critical to the success of the scheme is employers willing to invest in young people, employers who recognise the benefits of developing a person who understands the culture of their business, is fully qualified and work ready. The MA framework is completely flexible and tailored to individual businesses, enabling employers to pick and mix the content to suit their type of business and the particular skills requirements. We want employers to see the merits of training an individual to suit their business and this is what makes the Scottish Modern Apprenticeship unique.”
Katie Heslop HR Manager from Stoddarts, a leading beef processor and recent winner of the 2013 Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Award in the Profiting through Skills category, talked about the importance of their Modern Apprenticeship schemes and their relevance to the food and drink industries. Katie’s role involves continuing to build a robust people strategy, whilst also remaining closely involved in operational aspects of the business:
“Stoddart’s remains fully committed to investing in skills development and also supporting youth employment initiatives. Investing in skills development and attracting fresh talent into the organisation is crucial in order to secure the long term success of the business and to counteract the industry wide effect of an aging workforce, and a shortage of skills. Stoddart’s has in place a wide scale and growing Modern Apprenticeship programme, which cuts across all levels and areas of the business. The programme is highly effective at getting people into the business, helping people within the business to develop their career and acquire new skills, whilst providing our trainees with industry recognised qualifications. Future proofing the business is about investing in the long term, not just the here and now, and investing in people is key to our success.”
Graeme Hendry, Employer Engagement Manager from Skills Development Scotland, talked about the merits of the certificate of Work Readiness:
“As we have discussed, employment opportunities do exist, but young people don’t always have the knowledge or experience about a sector to make informed career choices. This is what the Certificate of Work Readiness is all about. It is an SQA accredited qualification designed to provide employers with ‘work ready’ young individuals to bring into the sector, whilst helping young people get the work experience they need. In essence, the certificate acts as a CV or reference from an employer which validates a young person, and this is essential in helping young entrants get their foot in the door.”