Countryside: Good work
From automation to AI, when we think about the changing world of work we tend to picture an urban backdrop. Yet work in the countryside is already being transformed; by technology and the growth of sectors such as tourism and leisure. But it also constrained by poor digital and terrestrial connectivity, and the absence of homes and services that encourage young people to want to live there. To create the jobs we need to build a new, regenerative economy, and meet young people’s hopes and expectations for work, it must change again — and fast.
Black Mountain College: a college for the future
Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales
Ben Rawlence
Around the world, young people are suing governments for what is coming to be known as ‘intergenerational theft’. Lawsuits allege that governments are not upholding their constitutional duty to protect the rights of future generations.
Here in Wales, we are ahead of the curve. The 2015 Wellbeing of Future Generations Act commits the Welsh Government to put plans in place for the long term, with the well being of the unborn in mind. What the Act means in practice though, is only beginning to be tested. The future, always a battleground for competing visions, has suddenly become a very crowded place. With the looming threat of climate change, the relationship between present action and future consequence has never been more sharply in focus.
Black Mountain College (BMC) was founded with the intention of getting ready for a very different future. De-carbonising our society, economy and culture is an enormous challenge that requires complex systems thinking. The first step on that journey is an imaginative one. We must imagine how things can be different. And we must imagine (and learn) how to live within the ecological limits of the planet. We need creative and adaptive thinking that puts human wellbeing and flourishing in the context of a healthy biosphere. This mission demands a different kind of educational experience to most global undergraduate courses, one in which immersion in the landscape, in the rural, is integral to learning.
Again, Wales is ahead of the curve, here, with the new Donaldson ‘Successful Futures’ curriculum, which puts creativity, environmental education and project based learning at the heart of its approach. BMC will provide a seamless progression from the Donaldson curriculum into the undergraduate experience with the aim of producing a new kind of graduate. Not one schooled in a particular subject or discipline, but someone trained to listen, to process information, solve problems, to communicate, to collaborate, and to care.
Our first year core curriculum requires all students to study neuroscience, ‘How We Learn’, because understanding both how you individually learn, and how other people do too, is essential if we are to become effective people. The other core unit is ‘Ecology and Morality’ — the hard science of how the earth works and the moral questions for the humans who depend on those systems. In between these two cores are five sensory units designed to hone the skills required to become a lifelong learning, creative and adaptive human: visual arts, sound and music, making and using, theatre and movement, cooking and growing food. We know from neuroscience that humans process information with all their senses and learn faster when more than one is engaged, and we also know that we learn far more effectively outside. All our classes are capped at 20 and will be taught, in the majority, outside, in the natural classroom of the Brecon Beacons National Park.
At a time when collectively, society seems to have lost its mind in relation to fossil fuels, it is only the natural world that can help us come to our senses again. This is an explicitly rural college — not an agricultural one — a full spectrum appreciation of the human relationship with the natural world, from arts to science, to big data. Second year students will take further core course in modes of inquiry, systems thinking and information technology before specializing in one of three pathways: Land, Arts or Technology. A final year student-led research project will be based on implementing the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act on the ground in Mid Wales.
We hope that students who go through this rigorous education will help the rest of us imagine what the future could be like, what, perhaps, it must be like, if we are to survive as a species in convivial relationships with each other. And here, most likely, the rural past has much to teach our rural and urban future. Without cheap fossil fuels, without long supply chains, without disposable plastic, without pesticides, fertilisers, doctored seeds and soil-depleting methods, many ancient and rural skills will need to be relearned.
Agroecology, or regenerative agriculture — farming with the grain of nature, building soil carbon, biodiversity, revisiting ancient crop rotations — will be a feature of the undergraduate pathway and vocational courses. And rural skills such as hedgelaying, coppicing, dry-stone walling and low head hydro-power such as the hugely efficient mill wheels, will be part of our further education offering.
These skills, we believe, will not be coming back into fashion as hobbies but as essential elements of a far more sustainable human economy. The story of our relationship with the land and the biosphere holds many lessons for our future, but first we must learn to listen. The National Park and the stunning rural environment of Wales is an essential resource for all of us as we try and turn the ship of humanity away from the impending iceberg — it is classroom, library, museum and laboratory all in one.
Attracting new entrants: the need for good work
Josie Warden, Food, Farming and Countryside Commission
How can we ensure that the next generation are entering the food, farming and agriculture sectors? When a third of all farms are held by persons over the age of 65, with only 3% held by persons below the age of 35, it is clearly an important challenge. Perhaps, however, it is slightly the wrong question. Should we instead be asking how food, farming and agriculture can ensure that they provide the good work that will attract talented and passionate young people?
What is good work?
In a survey carried out by the Commission in which we asked a representative group of over 1,000 young people aged between 16 and 24 about their priorities for future jobs, we see that there are several indicators of good work for this demographic. Perhaps unsurprisingly, good remuneration and reward (88%) and potential for career progression (77%) ranked highly. Ranking similarly highly however, were statements that indicated that they seek a job with purpose. More of them agree that they would be proud to work for a company that protects nature (76%), invests in the local community (76%), helps to tackle climate change (73%), and helps people live healthily (78%), compared to two thirds that agreed it was important to work for companies that were highly profitable.
What can food, farming and agriculture do to attract these youngsters who have a keen sense of social and environmental responsibility? From food production to stewarding the land and helping us to live sustainably within the environment, there is plenty in these sectors to attract young people seeking to make a difference in the world. However, it’s possible that these links are not being made, either in the minds of young people or by those promoting careers in the sectors.
Perceptions of careers in food, farming and agriculture
In addition to the national survey, a working group from the Devon locally led inquiry designed their own survey to better understand what 14- and 15-year olds in the county think about careers in food, farming and agriculture. These are important sectors in the county, and attracting the next generation is crucial.
It is surprising to learn that over one in five of them reported that they have no connection at all to food, farming or agriculture. When paired with the information that two thirds of them rank their family as their most important source of career advice, this suggests that there are many students in the county who are currently unlikely to consider a career in the sectors.
When asked to indicate which subjects would most likely lead to their desired careers, the students ranked maths, English and the sciences the highest. However, when asked which subjects would be most useful for careers in food, farming or agriculture they selected animal science, practical and hands-on skills, and environmental science.
This suggests that they lack awareness of the true range of careers, and that they may instead have an outdated view of work within the sectors. A lack of awareness risks a perception that the kind of career they want is not available to them within food, farming and agriculture. Indeed, almost a third of the students were neutral about the statement “I think jobs in food and farming offer good, competitive career options”, with another 25% disagreeing to some extent. This information should help spur on local industry and education institutions to ensure that students have a well-informed perception of the sector and its jobs.
