British agriculture must recruit 60,000 new entrants in the next ten years to maintain its current workforce. That’s the conclusion of a recent report commissioned by the Royal Agricultural Society of England.

The report criticises the industry for poor communication and PR and suggests that unless the industry improves this then it will lose potential entrants to other careers. What’s more, it highlights that only 50-70% of the current demand for workers is being met by colleges, resulting in a shortfall in candidates for agricultural positions.

It should mean that there are some great career opportunities for those young people entering the industry at the moment, anyway.

Somerset-based Blackdown Horticultural Consultants have been getting rather more attention than normal in recent weeks as around 10 million ladybirds have descended upon them. The swarm, the largest in ten years, has settled on four fields of sedum grown for eco-roofing. Apparently, the ladybirds have a habit of crawling all over you, described as “a bit daunting”…

Oh the irony of the situation!

When swine flu first struck in Mexico the initial advice was to keep away from infected pigs to minimise the chances of catching the disease.

Yet as human swine flu infection rates increase dramatically across the UK, Defra’s Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) suggests that infected agricultural workers should keep away from pigs to prevent human to pig transmission of infection.

This comes on the back of VLA research that demonstrated nasal transmission of the H1N1 virus to pigs, with subsequent clinical infection.