The US professionals quitting the rat race to become farmers - will UK horticulture go the same way? - Forum

Now, a small but - anecdotally - growing group of Americans are leaving the structure and security of an office job for the gruelling, yet rewarding work of earning money from the land.
Some want to be a part of improving the food supply for themselves and their community; others are excited by the prospect of becoming self-sufficient, or simply working outdoors like their ancestors did.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23849569

This is interesting because it shows a shift in attitudes toward what people perceive as life value rather than monetary value.

I think we can expect to see a certain amount of career realignment in the UK horticulture and landscape market too in the next few years.

Many in our industry will already be career changers.....problem is, has the industry got space and more importantly, can the industry withstand pressure on its (already) low financial structure?

To flood the market with more businesses could put too much pressure on existing enterprises.

With regard to the farming side, I doubt that will be followed hear - from visiting america many many times - I can say as a society they respect ANYONE who works, the harder the work, the more they respect the ethic, (although naturally people prefer work they percieve as having a higher calibe) wheras in the UK, industries are hung up on the percieved value of the end result, rather than the labour involved - Most british people would shun the thought of the long hours, hard labour, unpredictable pay (often a net loss in many years), and if keeping animals the lack of holidays - too much hard work.

With regards to our industry, its crowded, compettative and we run on razor margins at the best of times - and more competition will make that more difficult, but we must accept that as the price of being in our industry. If more people come into it, their will be more start ups failing in the first year, as their always is, their will be larger businesses squeesed, and some possibly fail if they cant adapt.
Then again, it could come with peoples attitudes changing and valuing the work we do more, and then a corresponding increase in the rates we can charge. too much to think about!

Replies

David Cox August 29, 2013 at 9:04am

With regard to the farming side, I doubt that will be followed hear - from visiting america many many times - I can say as a society they respect ANYONE who works, the harder the work, the more they respect the ethic, (although naturally people prefer work they percieve as having a higher calibe) wheras in the UK, industries are hung up on the percieved value of the end result, rather than the labour involved - Most british people would shun the thought of the long hours, hard labour, unpredictable pay (often a net loss in many years), and if keeping animals the lack of holidays - too much hard work.

With regards to our industry, its crowded, compettative and we run on razor margins at the best of times - and more competition will make that more difficult, but we must accept that as the price of being in our industry. If more people come into it, their will be more start ups failing in the first year, as their always is, their will be larger businesses squeesed, and some possibly fail if they cant adapt.
Then again, it could come with peoples attitudes changing and valuing the work we do more, and then a corresponding increase in the rates we can charge. too much to think about!
Stuart Land-Scape.co.uk August 29, 2013 at 7:27pm

trouble is that they don't fail in the first year - as a gardener or landscaper you can start very small with very low overheads and build up. the number of people i see working out of cars with a small trailer and domestic quality or clearly preloved gear is high.

it certainly is crowded and competitive though.