Young people across Scotland are being challenged to illustrate their vision of the future of farming, either through a drawing or painting, or a video clip.
The competition – ‘The Future of Farming’ – is being organised by the Farm Management Team at SRUC. They’re looking forward to finding out what young people think farming, and potentially the human diet, will be like in the future.
Competition organiser, Dr Cath Milne, said: “Farmers are constantly innovating and using new technologies such as drones to help them produce our food and manage land. Concepts such as vertical farming are also being tested in practice and farms may look very different in the future. We are really excited to see what young people envisage when they think about the future of farming.”
Primary school children can enter one drawing, painting or collage (no bigger than A3) while secondary school age children should enter a short video depicting and/or describing their vision of future farming. All schools in Scotland have been sent details of the competition, and entrants have been advised to let their imaginations run wild and interpret the brief in anyway they see fit.
Cath says: “There lots of inspirational material, we have videos on our own website and there is the Royal Highland Educational Trust site, or of course, just google future farming!”
For primary schools pupils there will be a number of cash prizes with first prize receiving £50 plus £100 for their school. The winner in the 11-18 year old category will receive two day tickets to the Royal Highland Show (RHS) 2016 and £150 towards costs of attending.
The best entries will be displayed on SRUC’s website and at various sites across Scotland, including at the Royal Highland Show in June. The closing date for the competition is 29 April 2016, with winners announced the following month. Information on how to enter can be at www.sruc.ac.uk/farmmanagement.
The competition will be judged by researchers from the Farm Management Team at SRUC; Dr Cath Milne and Lorna Paton, as well as a representative from the Cruikshank Trust.
The Farm Management Team research how and why farmers make decisions on managing their businesses, helping the sector become more sustainable.
Attached picture: Landward filming of SRUC drone in action in November 2015
Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), Leading the way in Agriculture and Rural Research, Education and Consultancy.
