Young Farmer at Farm Ness

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Transcript

00:00This is Ness Farm and I've come along for the day to see the realities of

00:06farm life and this is when they say farming's a life skill and the

00:14importance of Highland agriculture. So to get a better understanding I spoke to

00:2019 year old Emma who is part of the Young Farmers Association. I was born on

00:25a farm I've been brought up farming since I was really little. I predominantly do not do

00:29lambing. It's hard, it's really hard going but it's really rewarding like it's

00:34such a good job to do. Weather has such a big part to play in it so if it's bad

00:38weather it's not ideal but sometimes you need the rain like if it's been so nice

00:43for so long you always hear a farmer asking for a bit of rain.

00:48They're not even interested because it's raining. It's a hard lifestyle. I joined Nairn Young Farmers.

00:54I'm actually a treasurer now. It's not all farmers join Young Farmers. You don't

00:59have to be a farmer. You'll learn a lot. It's quite intimidating if you don't know

01:03what you're doing but just stick at it and go for it.

01:13I've been here most of my life. I went away and studied agriculture for a

01:18short time and I am the, if I get it right, I'm the fourth generation here.

01:23At a basic level it's just food production and that's, I think, totally been underestimated.

01:31It would take something colossal and people will realise that we are, I think

01:37the latest figures are 55% self-sufficient in this country. That's

01:41quite important for us to be able to produce our own food here. So it's

01:45massively, massively important I think and I think the government totally

01:50underrate it and just think they can basically, the last minute, we saw empty

01:55shelves, the deliveries just on time. That can fall apart quite easily and we've

02:00seen that already. So I think it's really important and especially

02:05Scotland, we farm to such high standards. I don't know if people realise that we

02:10have some of the highest welfare standards in the world. I think it's so

02:14important, like we need more people getting involved.