Martin Collison spoke at the Edge Conference on 11th March about the need for skills provision to look to the future. Speaking alongside Dr David Llewellyn, Vice Chancellor of Harper Adams University, Alistair Taylor of the Institute of Agricultural Engineers, Farmers Weekly Farmers Apprentice winner Will Hinton and Dan Corlett, of Bright Crop, the conference celebrated 2 years of the Edge Apprenticeship programme which has placed 448 apprentices with 351 employers. It has also trained 125 industry ambassadors to promote careers in food and farming and communicated its message to an estimated 53,000 people..
Outlining 5 mega trends for the next 10 years Martin argued that our skills provision needs to embrace the big changes which are happening including the need to:
Martin highlighted that there is a need for new entrants to the industry to have the flexibility and adaptability to respond to these challenges. He also challenged the industry to get more involved in skills provision given the scale of the recruitment challenge we face, the greater weight being placed on industry leadership by government when allocating skills funding and growing competition for new employees. Industry can assist with work placements, by offering to speak to students as well as through sponsorship or by supporting their local College or University.