Time won't stand still on farm sector's age problem

STATISTICS can be confusing. For instance, I used to think British farmers had stumbled on a secret and one they were very much keeping to themselves, writes Adam Sherlock.

- Adam Sherlock

Because every time I read something about the state of the industry I would be informed that the average age of those in it was 59. No more, no less.

And it was always 59. I might read another article a couple of years later and it was still 59. Eighteen months or so down the line and another writer would be solemnly informing me that the average age of British farmers was somewhat inevitably - still 59.

After a while I was driven to the conclusion that the British farming community had discovered, if not the secret of eternal youth, then at least the means of freezing time.

What the statistics were trying to convey, of course, was the fact that the farming sector was dominated by those at the far end of their careers and that we should be rather concerned about injecting new, younger blood into the industry.