The skills crisis in horticulture isn't
exactly news, but in case you've somehow managed to miss the looming
troubles then let me summarise them here; skilled horticulturists are
leaving horticulture faster than they are being replaced. In many
cases people retire, while some leave for economic or personal
reasons, and sadly some simply die.
Bringing new people into horticulture
is still proving difficult; a drop in applications to horticultural
colleges over the last decade or more mean that these once specialist
institutions now provide horticulture amongst dog grooming (no,
really!), floristry and vehicle maintenance, while horticulture is
still seen as a second rate career by so many people. Young people are entering the
industry, but it seems to be pot-luck whether they can find education
and experience that helps them develop. In many cases young people
are attracted to horticulture by the idea of working outside and
doing practical work, but then find that horticulture is often
physically demanding, poorly paid, and cold and wet! My former
employers signed up to an apprenticeship scheme and we had two
apprentices; one left to work as a butcher, while the other worked
for 12 months with a landscaper before starting a career with the
Royal Air Force. Given the challenges of educating both of these
apprentices while also keeping up with our own workload this is not
encouraging, and I hope that other businesses do better with their
apprentices!
Intake into horticulture isn't just
from young people leaving school or sixth form, there is also a
massive intake from older people who want to change career. Career
changers come into horticulture for many different reasons, but face
their own challenges. Someone in their 40s who has spent their career
so far at a desk might well find the prospect of working in
horticulture enticing, especially if they already enjoy gardening,
but seldom appreciate the demanding physicality of horticulture as a
profession, and that sometimes you do find yourself working in
appalling conditions if the weather turns bad!
Bringing people into horticulture
wouldn't be possible if we didn't give a slightly rosy view of it; as horticulture
stands at the moment you have to be in it for more than wealth or
comfort... there's a certain spiritual element that drives committed
horticulturists to go to work in bad weather or when they're facing
jobs that they really hate doing for days on end (hedge trimming is
often unpopular!). For many of us there's a serious sense of job
satisfaction in potting batches of plants or weeding borders, but
different people all have different ways of measuring job
satisfaction, and the achievements made in horticulture may not mean
the same to people who measure their achievements in other ways. It goes without saying that when it comes to attracting people into professional horticulture we won't do that by showing muddy horticulturists working in torrential rain!
In an attempt to combat the negative
perception of horticulture in general, let alone as a career, school
children are being targeted in campaigns to reinstall gardening into
our national way of life. Organisations, chiefly the Royal
Horticultural Society, have spent easily millions of pounds in
schemes to encourage school gardening clubs, and have managed to get
gardening into the curriculum (after all, gardening teaches us all
about the world around us), but will this have an effect on the
future of gardening? I'd like to say yes, but in reality I'm a bit skeptical. Teaching young children about the joys of gardening has no
doubt had a great effect on them, but does that effect stay with them
through secondary school, where the curriculum is stretched enough
without trying to squeeze gardening in? Will students sitting exams
idly gaze out of the window and daydream of sweet peas? If gardening
has become a genuine interest will any of the children who have
benefited from gardening at school actually want to join the
horticulture industry, or will they simply be hobby gardeners while
they pursue a 'real' career?
Organisations like the RHS have done
great work in getting kids into gardening, but let's remember that
even as the 'UK's leading horticultural charity' they do have their
own agenda. The RHS has to make money to survive, so it needs
members, visitors to gardens and buyers of merchandise. It's not
really cynical to make the connection; by getting kids into gardening
they can in turn get to the parents who will hopefully be brought
into gardening by their kids. Bearing in mind how immune we are all
becoming to advertising, the 'pester-power' of children is an
effective tool when it comes to making money! Kids who develop an
interest in gardening will hopefully want to visit gardens
(preferably for the RHS an RHS garden!), own gardening tools etc.,
and for non-gardening parents who are desperately in need of
information the RHS is there with everything they need, and not all
for free!
OK, maybe that is a little bit cynical,
but there can not be any doubt that by investing income in educating
children the RHS does stand to gain. Why not? Would a
non-charitable organisation not want to see potential gains for
investment? The key is, I believe, not to sit back and wait to see if we see
rewards for the RHS' investment in time and money. If we want to grow
horticulture into a more successful industry we must make our own
efforts to encourage new (not necessarily young) people into
horticulture as a hobby and career. This will come from using our own
skills and experience to keep friends, family and customers
interested and inspired in gardens and plants. This will come from
professional horticulturists not dumbing down their own industry.
This will come from making people aware of the 'spiritual' side of
gardening, and helping them to appreciate the achievement of a job
well done!
The RHS is playing a long game by
investing heavily in gardening for young children. If we ignore the
interests of adults then by the time those children themselves become
adults there may not be much of a horticultural industry left for
them to engage with. The horticultural industry itself needs to be a part of its own future; by using our own influence we can do our own bit, through whatever means, to keep Britain gardening.
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