The Rural List is One Year Old
A short article introducing The Rural List and the intention to expand in 2020.
February 2020 edition, page 31.
Read it at: https://cloud.3dissue.com/6374/7271/15135/PFFeb20/index.html?r=85
2019
CLA: Land and Business Magazine
Kim John, Communications Manager, CLA has written an article highlighting the positive impact veterans can have in the rural business sector.
“Ruralink hosts The Rural List ... bringing together veterans and employers from across the rural economy and giving both parties an insight into how they can help each other.
“Ruralink also works with rural employers to identify ‘gateway’ jobs for new entrants.”
August 2019 edition, from page 32.
CLA members can access it here: https://www.cla.org.uk/about/members-area/land-business-magazine#
Photograph of magazine article entitled “Your country needs you”
Land-Based Careers - Hosted by Matt Offord, the Data Educator.
Matt says,
"I had a fantastic chat with Fiona Galbraith about land based careers for veterans. What a huge sector ... Fiona explains how to access some terrific opportunities in this 30 min podcast."
Recorded by The Data Educator for the Institute of Leadership and Management (Redeploying Leadership Group) on 26 June 2019.
Title screen for The Data Educator and hyperlink to podcast.
The Land-Based Sector - Is this the career you've been looking for? Part One.
Written by Fiona, this first instalment in a three-part series introduces the wide range of careers within the land-based sector.
The UK has over 70% of its land area given over to agriculture, an industry valued at £26 billion, representing over 7% of Europe’s total agriculture market, contributing around £24 billion in revenue and around £8.5 billion of Gross Value Added to the UK economy in 2015. Other land-based industries take the land-use figure up to 90% and also make significant contributions to the national purse. In short, this is a significant employment sector.
Service leavers’ trademark qualities of: reliability, robustness, resilience, hard-work, health and safety awareness, problem-solving approach, team-orientation and leadership give them an advantage over many non-military job applicants. Once you add in specialist trade skills such as, but not limited to, engineering, data analysis, project management, facilities management, planning, operations management, leadership, equipment/ fleet management, logistics, warehousing and supply and finance, there is a world of opportunity open to you. An additional opportunity in the land-based sector is the on-going “agritech revolution”, which is creating new jobs and potential careers every day.
(Agritech is defined as “the use of technology in any growing environment that will assist in feeding the projected 10 billion [global population] by 2050 and maintaining a healthy planet.”
Published in May 2019 edition (page 22 onwards).
Read more: https://cloud.3dissue.com/6374/7271/15135/PFMay19/index.html?r=85
Pathfinder logo and link to May edition.
The Land-Based Sector - Is this the career you've been looking for? Part Two.
Written by Fiona, this second instalment of the three-part series introduces a host of real-life examples of ex-military making a success across the range of rural business.
"Many resettling personnel dream of working outdoors and avoiding a desk job ...
"One of the many exciting areas is the development of specialist technology in agriculture, “agri-tech”, including automation, artificial intelligence (AI), including the increasing use of robots and drones and related big data analysis. Another opportunity to those interested in seasonal or project work is the increasing contractorisation of farming and horticultural processes driven by the increasing complexity and therefore cost of equipment such as modern tractors, which provides opportunities for project managers, fleet managers, logistics specialists as well as heavy vehicle and tracked vehicle drivers and mechanics.
"Ex-forces personnel are particularly well-suited to these roles, as we tend to have the interpersonal skills to rapidly form new teams and interact effectively with potential clients. The British Forces “brand” also transmits reliability, punctuality and presentability, all of which are highly prized in the rural sector."
Published in the June 2019 edition (page 17 onwards).
Read more: https://cloud.3dissue.com/6374/7271/15135/PFJun19/index.html?r=85
Pathfinder magazine logo and link to June edition.
The Land-Based Sector - Is this the career you've been looking for? Part Three.
Written by Fiona, this third and final instalment of the series provides information of where to find out more and how to prepare for your land-based career. It also seeks to inspire you by pointing out that skills you already have are readily transferable to the sector, such as:
Training. Emerging applied skills, such as drone operations, robotics, data analysis, farm safety and many more all offer opportunities for high quality training interventions.
Project Management. As larger farms and other businesses adapt to the changing context of food production, by changing from intensive to conservation or regenerative farming systems, for example, or by entering into cooperative farming or contractor contracts, they need project or change managers to bring these in.
Operations Management. Rural businesses are getting larger [and] require a staff to run them effectively, not all of whom need to be steeped in the core business. This offers an interesting opportunity for military operations staff.
Data Management and Analysis. Increasingly performance data, disease control and even land conservation systems are developing using the latest remote and hand-held technologies. Military experience of designing, managing and analysing big data is very transferable.
Published in the July 2019 edition (page 16 onwards).
Read more: https://cloud.3dissue.com/6374/7271/15135/PFJul19/index.html?r=85
Pathfinder magazine logo and link to July edition
The Ex-soldiers Going Into Farming.
Introduces The Rural List to the farming community.
"Ex-forces personnel have wide ranging skills and qualities that make them excellent employees in agricultural roles.
"Fiona says, “There’s obviously the resilience and robustness needed to work outdoors, but they have great problem-solving capabilities, practical skills, the ability to work long hours and to show initiative in a crisis.
“They’re enthusiastic, have great interpersonal skills, they’re fantastic team players, have an aptitude for project management – and mountains of determination. These are the skills that rural businesses are crying out for."
Published online on 7 May 2019
Published in the 10 May 2019 magazine.
Read more: https://www.fwi.co.uk/careers/the-ex-soldiers-going-into-farming
Farmers Weekly logo and hyperlink to article.