I am really proud to have started The Black Farmer Young City Farmers scheme which for many years I ran in conjunction with the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester. We do our best to run the scheme annually, but this is not always possible.
Based on my original Scholarship scheme launched in 2005 and filmed by Channel 4 “Young Black Farmers”, I passionately believe that young people living in the UK’s urban jungles are not yet considering life in the countryside as a viable option.
My own personal experience has taught me that by exposing ‘hardcore urbanites’ to the rural environment, it can trigger a deep seated affinity with the land. When this happens it opens up a huge amount of options to someone who may have thought they were headed for life’s dustbin heap. My own experience working on my father’s allotment in inner city Birmingham gave birth to my dream to own my own farm, which I fulfilled some 40 years later.
Read about how past partipants have got on here.
