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Is farming the right field for you? If so, how many Hay levels do you need? Should you branch out into forestry? Perhaps you might consider opportunities in various different specialist fields, such as agricultural engineering, horticulture, environmental science, or gamekeeping. Is it really a growing industry?

Farming

Farms vary enormously and can include:

• Remote hill farms with beef cattle and sheep
• Vast mechanised arable farms with no livestock
• Mixed farms with crops and livestock
• Specialist indoor pig and poultry farms with virtually no land

With such variety, there are opportunities to pursue a particular interest in livestock, crops or machinery. Courses are available at all levels to furnish future farmers with the seeds of knowledge and the fertiliser of experience.

Farm management is probably the most popular choice of employment within the industry. It is estimated that there are roughly 8,000 salaried farm managers. However, more opportunities exist for unit managers, where there is often a shortage of suitable applicants who can combine practical skills with the necessary organisational abilities.

Working in farming requires significant technical knowledge and skills. If you want a career in the industry, you should take every opportunity to acquire technical and vocational education and training, particularly with regard to the sciences.

Agricultural Engineering

An agricultural engineer applies the scientific and technical knowledge of engineering to the biological and physical constraints of agriculture.

Opportunities for agricultural engineers include:

• Manufacturing - the design, development, testing and demonstration of new products for the farming industry and the marketing and sale of farm equipment.
• Field engineering - the application of soil and water technology to agricultural problems such as land drainage, irrigation, erosion and so on.
• Service engineering - an important back-up to manufacturing, which involves the engineer in installing, maintaining and repairing machinery.
• Environmental control - the supply of automatic control systems to provide ideal conditions for housed livestock or glasshouse crops or for the drying and conditioning of crops such as grain and potatoes.
• Mechanisation - the application of machines to farm production systems
• Specialist courses in agricultural engineering are available at all levels.

Horticulture

There are two main branches of horticulture:

1. Commercial horticulture covers specialisms such as fruit growing, glasshouse crops, ornamental plants, nursery stock production and garden centres
2. Amenity horticulture covers the provision and maintenance of amenity areas for the public, including parks, gardens and golf courses

If you are wondering which branch of horticulture would suit you best, consider joining a training course or take advantage of work experience opportunities provided by your school or college to sample a little from one or more of the specialist areas before making a major decision.