New career development service helps to boost farm skills

A new career development service has launched – giving farmers the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and professionalism.

The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH) is a professional body for people working in farming and growing. It encourages people in farming to progress their career – whatever the sector or level of experience.

Membership of the online service makes support, training and development easier to find and access. Drawing on their background experience, it delivers personalised information and training recommendations.

There are tools to help users assess their existing skills and identify any gaps. A host of online learning resources, as well as a directory of training providers, help people develop at their own pace.

Other membership benefits include access to webinars, toolkits, templates and related resources featuring expert advice on topics central to thriving farming and growing businesses.

More than 400 farmers helped developed the online service. Each has their own online dashboard where they can record and demonstrate their achievements – and find out the next steps they should take.

‘Brilliant service’

Staffordshire farmer Andrew Court said: “It has been refreshing to be involved. The focus has been on ensuring that the content is approachable and inclusive for everyone working across the breadth of farming disciplines.

“Access to platforms that aid professional development is becoming ever more important. The brilliance of the TIAH service is that is helps people roadmap out where they want to go and makes it easy for them to identify the routes to get there.”

TIAH chief executive Stephen Jacob said: “TIAH membership is a major milestone and we’re looking forward to opening our virtual doors to the farming and growing community to supercharge their approach to learning and development.”

Annual TIAH membership will cost a one-off fee of £144, or £12.50 per month. For a limited time, farmers and growers can take advantage of a 50% discount on these fees.

For full details and to sign up, visit www.tiah.org/membership.

Savills adds to rural teams across East of England

Land agent Savills has expanded its rural team in the east of England with three new appointments at offices across the region.

Rural surveyor Tamsin Sprawling has joined the Ipswich office as part of its estate management team. Ella Rowe has joined the Norwich office food and farming team and Felix Jebb has joined the Cambridge estate management team.

Tamsin previously worked for Nicholas Percival’s commercial team. She will be undertaking a mixture of private client consultancy and management work across Suffolk and north Essex.

She said: “I live in north Essex and have grown up in the countryside being widely involved with young farmers for the past 10 years, so this was a great opportunity to get back to my rural roots.”

Ella, who has joined from Brown and Co, will provide advice and management services to farms, estates and rural businesses across Norfolk and Suffolk. She said: “It’s a great opportunity to further my knowledge of farming practices and continue learning.”

Felix, who recently graduated in real estate from Reading University, will advise corporate clients across Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.

He said: “It will be great to see how new strategies and service lines such as natural capital are incorporated into traditional estate management to benefit both clients and the broader countryside and rural economy.”