SAYFC: 'Young Farmer of the Year' 2018's Neilson and Campbell

The idea came from the successful competition which takes place in New Zealand and even in its infancy over here, has proved to be a real hit with the young farmers community.

For those wishing to take part in this years' competition, two regional qualifying days will take place on Saturday, February 16 at Caledonian Mart, Stirling and Saturday, February 23 at Dingwall Mart. From the regional qualifiers, six finalists will be chosen to progress through to the final, which will be held on Friday, June 21 at the Royal Highland Show.

The qualifier rounds will have challenges spread across arable, dairy, beef and sheep and machinery, including the likes of foot trimming, forage management, identifying crop disease and forklift handling. Of the four sections, competitors looking to qualify for the final must compete in at least three of these.

The six finalists will take part in a business case study in advance of the RHS with the assistance of a Royal Bank of Scotland business mentor and at the show itself, will take part in a range of activities in front of the public.

Over the next few weeks, we will speak to the six finalists from the previous years’ competition, recalling their experiences from the contest and gathering their thoughts on the future direction of Scottish farming.

Andrew Neilson

Andrew Neilson was the winner of Young Farmer of the Year in 2018 and found the experience to be a real eye opener to the wider farming industry – one which he strongly encourages his fellow members to take part in.

The 23-year-old Avondale YFC member is a dairy farmer from Strathaven, Lanarkshire, where he runs a herd of 350 pedigree Holsteins, alongside his father. He is a fourth-generation farmer who also breeds a small flock of pedigree Texels, which he says has turned out to be a ‘rather expensive hobby’.

Andrew explained what he gained from entering young farmer of the year: “I have always been very active in young farmers, but felt there weren’t enough competitions before which tested your knowledge and skill within farming. There were good prizes up for grabs – I won £1000 cash, the use of a quad bike for a year and a trip to the Oxford Farming Conference, which I’m not long back from.

“The competition tested our knowledge within all sectors of the industry. At the qualifying stage there were four categories we were quizzed on – dairy, beef and sheep, arable and machinery with our top three results making up our initial score. This was good for me as I knew little about arable. Six of us went through to the final and 50% of our overall score was down to a business proposal which we had to complete prior to the RHS.

“My proposal involved investing in dairy cows, improving the efficiency of the herd and retailing and pasteurising my own milk. Through selling my own produce through a farm shop, I was able to cut out the middle man and make greater financial returns. Back home on my own dairy operation we are fairly forward thinking and push for high input and high output, averaging 12,000 litres daily. However, it wouldn’t be practical to diversify on my own farm right now as we don’t live in the right location and wouldn’t want to jeopardize our milk contract,” he explained.

With Brexit on the horizon and concerns over the future viability of Scottish farming hanging in the balance, Andrew explained that the industry needs to wake up and market themselves and their produce more effectively.

“People will always need fed and there will always be a future in farming, but consumer demand is changing, and the agricultural industry must change with them. We need to make products that people want to buy and can argue all day about not getting paid enough, but in order to succeed we need to keep consumers happy. That will mean an increased focus on animal welfare and a real effort to improve our public image. Our whole agricultural industry doesn’t market our produce properly and as a result, consumers are often clueless about the great work we are doing. The public too often believe the harmful propaganda they see on social media as they don’t know any better – going forward we must defend our industry and market ourselves better.

“The supermarkets aren’t helping the situation – instead of working with farmers to improve public image they are paying us cost of production and not promoting the industry to their buyers. Unfortunately, we can’t stand up against supermarkets as they dictate everything farmers do.

“What we can do is become more efficient as an industry, embrace new technologies and welcome change. Younger farmers are definitely more open to exploring new practices and if we can work more collaboratively to spread positive messages about the work we do, then in return we can create both a stronger relationship with our consumers and a better public image,” Andrew urged.

Robert Campbell

Robert Campbell was a finalist in last year’s competition and has already expressed an interest in throwing his hat in to the ring again this year.

The Crossroads YFC member looks after a mixed operation in Mauchline, Ayrshire, alongside his mum and dad. Together they finish 300 head of cattle, milk 190 dairy cattle, look after 200 ewes and grow 50 acres of barley, which they use for their own feed. Always keen to improve the efficiency of the business, he is looking at ways to expand and improve infrastructure and bring in modernisation. He shared with The Scottish farmer how last year’s competition went down and how he is feeling about the future with Brexit on the horizon:

“I have taken part in most young farmers competitions but this one was new last year and combined both practical and knowledge-based elements which made it really interesting. The qualifying sections are quite practical and hands-on – we all had to demonstrate our abilities in the likes of welding and hoof trimming, as well as technical questions on things like crop rotations. Six of us got through to the final, where it tested you more academically. As a graduate of agriculture with a keen interest in business, the business plan part of the challenge appealed to me as we all had to put forward our proposals for a succession farm.

“We were all given the same scenario and I decided to make it in to a dairy operation and have a food shop, a tea room and make my own cheese. We all had a mentor from RBS who helped us with the business proposal and it is always good practice to be projecting cash flows etc, as it can help your own farming situation. Having a blank canvass allowed us to be more ambitious and it is always fun to play with imaginary money.

“Sometimes you can get so wrapped up in your own farm that it can be really healthy to have a new perspective, which can allow you to think more creatively. We prepared our plans before the final at the RHS but during the show itself we had to take part in challenges such as quizzes, putting up electric fences and a surprise event – climbing the giant poles in the forestry section, which the public were able to watch. All in all, it was a fantastic experience and I will be applying for it again this year,” he enthused.

Robert explained that with the uncertainty over the direction of the agricultural industry in the next few years that he would be holding off on any big investments in to his business: “There is a sense of hesitancy within the industry just now when it comes to investing in their farming operations. We still don’t know what is going to happen with Brexit, so I personally won’t be making any bold investments in the short term. I believe there will be opportunities, but it might take five years of turbulence before we get there. I’m not pessimistic in any means, but I’m aware there might be hardships in the short term while we straighten out any issues with a new system.

"For me right now, I feel safer to be working on a mixed farm, as it spreads the load more evenly, if one industry was to take a significant hit – like we are unfortunately seeing with the sheep sector. This approach might be less profitable, but on the whole more secure. There will always be a future in farming – land will always be there, and people will always need to be fed,” concluded Robert.