Horticulture to have Green Skills 'Facebook' treatment

A new web portal, positioned as a one-stop shop on all things horticulture, is to be launched in an effort to combat the skills crisis affecting the horticultural sector.

At the recent Green Skills Seminar held in London, a number of leading horticultural bodies met to discuss the future of their industry. Organisations represented included English Heritage, Lantra, Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and The Royal Parks, who met with over eighty industry representatives to launch a new strategy that will ensure horticulture becomes a viable career option for all.

The website will be aimed at three audience levels; school leavers, careers advisors and those looking for a second career. The portal will provide relevant and up to date information on horticultural careers and will utilise techniques familiar to users of social networking sites like YouTube and Facebook, to ensure horticulture becomes attractive to young people and accessible to those outside the sector.

The new strategy follows an intensive period of consultation with young people aged 13 to 18 across the country. Conducted by E3 Marketing, the report found that the biggest obstacle to attracting young people into horticulture can be attributed to confusion over its identity - 62% of the groups stated that horticulture was another word for farming, while most commented that it’s a career for ‘old or retired people’.

Leigh Morris from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Chair of the Green Skills Careers Marketing Initiative (GSCMI), said: “The research by E3 Marketing has delivered some interesting findings. Traditionally horticulturists have blamed poor wages as the main reason why young people do not want a career in our industry. However, the research has shown that fun, fulfilment and satisfaction are important to young people in their career choice and we know that this is something horticulture can offer.

“We still need to come up with new ways to explain about horticulture and inspire young people. Through the GSCMI we have identified that a web portal should be the first step towards making this fascinating subject appealing. We must then promote careers in horticulture in a way that young people will better understand. Get them interested in careers in science, arts, technology, management and commerce, and then show them how this could be obtained in horticulture. Simple!”

The new site will launch later this year. For more information on the overall Green Skills initiative, or the GSCMI, contact the RHS’ Tim Hughes on timhughes@rhs.org.uk or Leigh Morris on l.morris@rbge.ac.uk