Young Farmers and Careers

Eilidh Duncan, 22, was brought up on her family farm in Dullatur and recently moved to the hills of Fintry, Stirlingshire, to live with her farming partner. She works as a full time livestock procurement officer covering North and Central Scotland for Farm Stock (Scotland).

Molly Griffin,16, is from Chippenham, Wiltshire, and lives with her parents and younger sister. She has started studying Level 3 agriculture at the Lackham Campus of Wiltshire College.

Helping to motivate, inspire and guide staff to achieve their best can help a farm business thrive. In the first of a two-part feature, Clemmie Gleeson speaks to two farmers who, although from different sectors and backgrounds, let their staff know what they do matters and is appreciated.

Lee Robb, 29, works at Ladyyard Farm, Mauchline, Ayrshire. He is a Crossroads YFC member, past Ayrshire District chairman and a current Ayrshire representative for agri and rural affairs.

Starting out in farming has been a steep learning curve for Rosie Howes and Scott Brame, but as they told Clemmie Gleeson, they have lots of ideas and plans for the future.

An innovative approach, together with investment, has been central to success for first-generation dairy farmers Liam and Annie James. Barry Alston reports.

Joe Bramall, 20, is from a 162-hectare (400-acre) dairy farm, milking 240 cows, outside of Chester, Cheshire. He studies agri-business at Harper Adams university and is an NFU Student and Young Farmer Ambassador.

Staff are the key to any business, but why can farmers, who are also employers, be sometimes reluctant to secure the best team around them? And why is it so important to a business’ bottom line? Clemmie Gleeson finds out more.

Catherine McKenna, 26, works on her family sheep farm in Co Tyrone, Northern Ireland.