New jobs opportunities in the country

With the increased mechanisation of agriculture from the 1950s onwards, agricultural workers moved to the towns and cities in search of employment, and they made their lives there, away from their rural roots. Villages began to die, and the transport links of local trains and buses dried up.

But much of that labour of the 1950s was heavy manual work. Today the opportunities in agricultural employment are wide-ranging – from the traditional jobs of working with livestock or arable crops, to the picking and packing lines of the more intensive vegetable and fruit production, and many support industries including marketing and distribution, planning and the environment.

IT plays an ever-increasing function in agriculture, and you only need to look at the courses on offer from what were traditionally ‘farm colleges’ to realise the variety of roles available within the countryside.

Rural rail and bus links are unlikely to be reinstated, and farmers may need to be more pro-active in offering accommodation and their own means of transport to future employees, but the opportunities are endless for someone wanting to work in our great British countryside.

Sarah Norton is a retired rural dweller living near Shrewsbury