By DAVID COULTER

Published at 09:44, Friday, 19 February 2010

A MAJOR new strategy aimed at equipping farmers and growers with the right skills for the 21st century has been praised by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn.

He gave his support to the AgriSkills Strategy, which seeks to ensure that industries can deliver increased food production and can tackle environmental challenges.

It aims to ensure industries at the heart of the UK’s food production deliver a skilled workforce to meet modern day demands.

Mr Benn said: “Farming is a highly skilled profession and all these skills – together with new ones – will be needed in the years ahead as we seek to reduce carbon emissions, look after natural resources, and improve productivity and profitability.

“I congratulate all those involved in producing the AgriSkills Strategy, and I look forward to working with them in putting its ideas into practice.”

AgriSkills Forum chairman and NFU deputy president, Meurig Raymond, added: “The need to produce enough food to feed an increasing population while impacting less on the environment coupled with the advances in technology means we must build on our highly-skilled base to take the industry forward into the 21st century.

“A thriving industry needs to demonstrate that it is highly competent in all that it does.”

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