The route into a career in farming is to be made simpler and more efficient thanks to further development of Ringlink’s innovative internship scheme.
“We are moving into the third year of a project aimed at placing interns on farms and felt that it was time to freshen up and re-organise the offering,” said Ringlink managing director Graham Bruce.
“We wanted the interns, most of them 16-year-old school-leavers, to gain a certificate of work-readiness and the best way to do this is to collaborate with SRUC, Scotland’s rural college. There are a number of other significant advantages of working with SRUC.”
Amongst these is SRUC’s national coverage because Mr Bruce and the Ringlink directors have always intended this scheme to be rolled out, possibly through other machinery rings in the Scottish network.
The intention has always been to make a meaningful contribution to Scottish agriculture’s looming labour shortfall while at the same time offering youngsters a career path, which unlike other intern schemes attracts a wage from the very start.
Ringlink’s Tom Easson pointed out the Youth Training Scheme (YTS) of the 1980s used to produce around 100 apprentices every year so there is plenty of scope.
As it is, this year’s Ringlink scheme will cater for around 15 interns with nine already signed up and due to start induction training on June 15 before moving out on to work on farms under the supervision of their mentors.
Peter Wood, training manager at Ringlink, said: “We are looking for keen 16 to 21-year-olds from the north-east and Tayside but remember mentors are key partners and we need volunteers for this too, preferably matched geographically to the interns.”
Mr Bruce added: “Being a mentor is not for everyone but it can be very satisfying. A good proportion of the interns from previous years have gone on to full employment on the same farms.”
The scheme receives no government finance and is funded by Ringlink and various industry partners and charities.