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Growing interest in food and farming courses garners media attention

Posted 26 August

A growing interest in food and farming has garnered media attention – and seen SA¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ academics sought out to explain the phenomenon.

The trend was first picked up on by the Times newspaper, who attributed the effect to television programmes such as Clarkson’s Farm and Fletcher’s Family Farm inspiring a new generation of farmers.

Among those they quoted were Harper Adams Vice-Chancellor Professor Ken Sloan and Senior Lecturer Andrew Black.

Professor Sloan told the Times: “One of the strengths of these shows is how they demonstrate the breadth of experience new entrants to farming even celebrities and soap stars - need to draw upon to make their farms a success.

“That is reflected in the attention prospective students are paying to subject areas such as land and property, business, and agri-technology like robotics and automation.

“It is also why we have expanded into urban Telford to encourage more new entrants to see the agrifood industry as a good career option, just like Jeremy Clarkson."

Andrew – who lectures on the University’s land and property courses - noted that it wasn’t simply Jeremy Clarkson himself who was drawing interest to land-based degrees – but also other stars of the show, such as affable land agent and agronomist Charlie Ireland.

He said: “The impact of Charlie's role in Clarkson's Farm is far more wide–reaching and we are starting to see a ripple effect in the number of students enrolling on our open days as a result."

Data released in 2024 by university and college admissions body UCAS showed the number of applicants accepted on to agricultural courses had risen by eight per cent from the previous year – and since 2019, agriculture, food and other related degrees have seen a rise of almost 20 per cent.

The original Times article was picked up on and covered by a range of national newspapers – and Professor Sloan was also invited onto BBC Radio Four’s Today programme to discuss the phenomenon.

He told presenter Emma Barnett: “It’s a very welcome trend because you've got over seven million people watching Clarkson's Farm. They're also watching other programs like the Yorkshire Shepherdess and Fletcher's Family Farm. And everything we can do to expose a broader range of people to the excitement, and the complexity, and the challenges that are available to people who go into land-focused careers has got to be attractive.

“So right now it's we are seeing over the last period whilst that programme has been on, there's been an overall 20 per cent increase in applications across the country through GuildHE members for food, farm and related courses. We're also seeing mirrors within the FE sector as well.

“So it's great to see that the real world of farming, the real world of land management, has been exposed to a much broader audience. And if we're going to feed our country, we need more people to be interested.”

Building an interest in farming – particularly among those who may not have considered a career in the sector - needed certain preconceptions to be tacked, Professor Sloan added.

He said: “I think it’s partly because they think there’s only one way to get into farming – so they talk about, and we hear all the time, the real challenges that people who own farms are facing.

“But if you have a look at what actually contributes to food and farming, you have got business – people study business, the reason why Land and Property Management at Harper Adams is in the Business School is because it’s as complex a business as any other type of thing; you’ve got Environment, Robotics, Automation, AI – it sits right at the heart of the industrial strategy for the Government.

“The thing that a lot of people misunderstand is they think it’s a very narrow thing – it’s a very broad thing. If you put the food and farming industry together, it’s the largest industrial sector that the UK has got.

“It’s no surprise, therefore, that students that go to Universities like mine are going into places where you’ve got almost a hundred per cent guarantee that you are going to get some sort of graduate job afterwards.

“The OECD is saying, up with AI, it’s the largest growing sector that’s going to be needed internationally - because we’ve got to feed so many new people.”