7. What is the Welsh Government doing to encourage young people into the agricultural sector and retain them? OQ58280

The Welsh Government continues to provide support for young entrants and those who want to enter the agricultural industry, through programmes such as Farming Connect and Venture. The proposed sustainable farming scheme will support new entrants to enter the industry and establish sustainable businesses.

Thank you, Minister, for that response, and I refer Members to my declaration of interest as a farmer myself. As a Minister, you've stated the Welsh Government has introduced some welcome initiatives to retain young people and, it looks like, hopefully, some more in the future, and that's welcomed. However, despite these initiatives, the sector is not getting any younger. The average age of a farmer is around 59 years old, and that's a similar age to me, and I certainly feel pretty old. Yet, recent events have shown that it's more important than ever to encourage new people into agriculture to help ensure domestic food security, as well as sustaining a vibrant industry that provides jobs and skills for our rural areas. As such, Llywydd, I do think we need to do more in Wales to encourage more people, and particularly those not already from agricultural backgrounds, to step into the sector. Minister, what consideration have you given to introducing a workforce strategy with the aim of retaining and expanding the domestic agricultural workforce, as well as upskilling and reskilling young people to open up opportunities for them? These young will be absolutely fundamental to a sustainable food system. Thank you.

Thank you. The Member raises a really important point, because if we don't encourage the next generation, we won't have that prosperous and dynamic industry that we really want to see here in Wales. So, since I've been in portfolio, it's always been something that I've been very keen on encouraging, and we did have the Young People into Agriculture programme that we had back in March. I think it finished in March 2020, and that was very successful—we had about 150 applications, and I think the majority of them were successful. So, it would be good to perhaps have another look at seeing if we can do something similar, going forward.

I mentioned that there are a few schemes we've brought forward to help young people into the sector, but I think you made a very pertinent point about people not from an agricultural background, because sometimes I think it's even harder for them, and not having access to land and capital is seen as the main barriers for those young people to go into the industry, particularly if they haven't got the support of a farming background or a family in farming.

I haven't had any discussions about having a workforce strategy specifically. As you know, we've got the Venture scheme. That's designed to match landowners and farmers who are looking to step back from the industry with new entrants who are then looking for a way into the sector, and I think it's a very good initiative. It's innovative, it's run through Farming Connect, which, as you know, is only available here in Wales, and it really does guide people on both sides through the key steps to making that potential business partnership. And, again, I've had very interesting discussions with the younger farmer and the older farmer as to how successful it's been. They certainly, I think, appreciated the mentoring, the specialist advice and the business support that's come forward.