The team behind Scotland’s pilot pre-apprenticeship scheme for young farm workers said it is time for the industry to make a contribution to its funding.
The board of machinery ring Ringlink, which devised the scheme, is still waiting to hear if £100,000 of Scottish Government backing will be forthcoming for this year’s intake of youngsters.
However, group chairman James Porter says he has already been lobbying for a “small slice” of Basic Payment Scheme funds to be diverted to the programme.
“The staff at Ringlink have put in a huge amount of work over the last few years, but we can’t go on like this forever. The scheme needs to be self-supporting, and we have put the case to government already,” he said.
“I don’t see it being a large amount of money, because we just need a regular level of young people to feed into the industry.”
Mr Porter was speaking in Perth at the graduation of 29 young people who took part in the pilot programme.
The scheme was oversubscribed, and the limiting factor was the number of mentor farmers willing to help train apprentices.
However, Ringlink managing director Graham Bruce said there was a solution.
“We have identified a pool of farmers who would be excellent at the job, but they can’t always justify taking someone on in their business, so we see an opportunity to have professional mentors who can do it on an ongoing basis.
“The transfer of knowledge from them would be second to none.
“For the young people it would be like going to college,” he said.
Mr Porter added: “Given the right funding it would mean the whole industry was supporting it, rather than relying on a few altruistic people as we are at the moment.”
The land-based pre-apprenticeship scheme, launched as an internship in 2013, offers youngsters a three-week training course at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) followed by a six-month placement on a farm or rural business.
