A Monmouthshire student who has won the Farmers' Union of Wales annual £700 student bursary today called for agriculture to be taught in schools from primary level in a bid to improve the image of an industry in which the average age of a farmer in Wales is 59.
Nineteen-year-old Phillippa Maidment, who has just started a rural property management course at Harper Adams University College in Shropshire, made the demand in a 1,000-word essay submitted with her bursary application.
She was presented with her bursary cheque on the FUW stand at the Royal Welsh Winter Fair when a second bursary of £200 was also handed to another Harper Adams student, 18-year-old Sion Gwynedd Roberts, of Simdde Hir, Llannefydd, near Denbigh, who is studying agricultural engineering.
A third bursary of £100 was presented to 18-year-old Aberystwyth University student Gwyn Pierce, of Gelli-Haf, Llangyndeyrn, Carmarthenshire, who is studying agriculture with animal science.
Apart from being a keen member of her local young farmers' club, Phillippa's family has no direct link to farming.
Entitled "What should the Welsh farming industry and government do to attract more young people into agriculture?", her essay suggested that as too few young people are choosing a career in agriculture there could be drastic effects on the farming industry.
"As the majority of farmers are members of the older generation there is lack of new ideas coming into agriculture. This could be preventing farmers from increasing their income," wrote Phillippa, whose home is at Undy, near Caldicot.
In her essay, she stated: "One major problem restricting the younger generation from being part of the farming industry is that it currently has a very negative profile.
"If you ask most young people for their opinion on farming the common response is that it provides a low income, long hours and is hard work. Another problem is that the younger generation do not have the opportunity to take part and get the feel of farm life unless they are from a farming background.
"As a young person myself, if I was not a member of young farmers I would find it incredibly difficult to gain knowledge or experience on a farm. But how can this problem be addressed?
An obvious way to begin to tackle this problem would be to introduce agriculture in to the classroom from an early age, starting at primary school level. Children need to learn the basic farm animals and where their food comes from.
"A fun and exciting way to do this is by providing farm visits. In Wales there are community farms, such as Greenmeadow Community Farm in Cwmbran which provides children with a hands-on educational experience, which is fun and very interesting for all.
"However, not all communities are lucky enough to have an open farm due to the costs of implementing health and safety regulations. One way in which the government could help overcome this issue is by providing farmers with grants and resources to enable them to cater for groups of school children and comply with health and safety regulations.
"Once these children have completed primary school they will have valuable knowledge on agriculture as a whole. This needs to be maintained and improved when they move to comprehensive school.
"Schools could provide pupils from non-farming backgrounds with agricultural experience through a youth learning scheme. Schemes similar to this are already offered for trades such as bricklaying and plastering and have seen great accomplishment. This could also be true of farming.
"I understand it would be tough to get farmers to accept this and having young people on their farm could be daunting. However, if young people aren't given the chance then they will never learn."
FUW president Gareth Vaughan praised all 23 applicants for the high standards of their written submissions which were based on climate change challenges for farming and food production in Wales; how to attract more young people into agriculture; and how to give the Welsh farming industry a higher public profile.
"The panel of three judges were very impressed by the fresh ideas, expressed so clearly by many of the applicants to overcome the challenges that are currently facing Welsh farming," Mr Vaughan added.