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Sow confused? Younger Brits surprisingly disconnected from farming

Young Brits might be passionate about the environment, but when it comes to farming many are yet to suss out the lay of the land.

  • One in five Brits believe farm­ing is essen­tial to tack­ling cli­mate change 
  • A quar­ter of Brits think peo­ple need to be born into a farm­ing fam­i­ly to become a farmer – ris­ing to almost a third among Gen Z 
  • Despite lack of knowl­edge, near­ly a third of Brits would con­sid­er a career in farm­ing or the agri-food industry 
  • Open Farm Sun­day is set to dis­pel myths and cul­ti­vate con­nec­tions between the pub­lic and farmers.

Young Brits might be pas­sion­ate about the envi­ron­ment, but when it comes to farm­ing many are yet to suss out the lay of the land. 

Agri­cul­ture plays a key role in com­bat­ting cli­mate change2, but only one in five (19%) of 18 – 24-year-olds are aware of its impor­tance on the matter. 

The new research ahead of Open Farm Sun­day 2025 – farming’s annu­al open day — reveals a sur­pris­ing dis­con­nect between younger Brits per­ceived val­ues and their view of farm­ing in the UK today, but also a desire to con­nect and know more. 

Despite being dig­i­tal­ly savvy them­selves, Gen Z are the least like­ly to know British farms use tech­nol­o­gy such as Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence (AI), drones, and robotics. 

Only 15% were aware AI is already being used in crop man­age­ment, and few­er than a quar­ter (23%) knew GPS is used to help with plant­i­ng or that robot­ic sys­tems were used in dairy farm­ing (22%).

Just over a third (35%) think farm­ing is becom­ing more inno­v­a­tive and tech dri­ven. Increas­ing­ly pre­ci­sion agri­cul­ture, AI inte­gra­tion, and automa­tion tech­nolo­gies are being imple­ment­ed across the country. 

The research also shows one in three (37%) of these young Brits believe you have to be born into a farm­ing fam­i­ly to become a farmer, rein­forc­ing out­dat­ed views of the indus­try as being closed off. 

Even with these mis­con­cep­tions, 90% of Gen Z adults agree that farm­ing is rel­e­vant to their lives’. Indeed, more than a third (34%) say that they have at one point in their lives thought about farm­ing as a career and near­ly half (46%) say it’s a pro­fes­sion they’d con­sid­er now. 

First gen­er­a­tion farmer, Jake Free­stone, Farm Man­ag­er at Over­bury Enter­pris­es, says: Farm­ing is an incred­i­bly reward­ing job, but it’s one that many peo­ple don’t ful­ly understand. 

What we do goes far beyond pro­duc­ing food, we’re work­ing on the front line of sus­tain­abil­i­ty, bio­di­ver­si­ty, and cli­mate resilience every day. 

We need the next gen­er­a­tion to engage with mod­ern farm­ing to see that many of these issues are being tack­led”.

Man­aged by the envi­ron­men­tal char­i­ty LEAF (Link­ing Envi­ron­ment And Farm­ing), Open Farm Sun­day returns for its 19th year on Sun­day 8th June 2025. The day offers every­one a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­nect with farm­ers and explore the world of sus­tain­able food and farm­ing, and the vital role it plays in their every­day lives. 

By wel­com­ing the pub­lic onto farms and show­cas­ing the jour­ney of food from farm to table and the care that goes into farm­ing with nature, Open Farm Sun­day helps con­sumers to build a deep­er appre­ci­a­tion for where their food comes from, and impor­tant­ly the farm­ers who pro­duce it. 

Annabel Shack­le­ton, LEAF’s Open Farm Sun­day Man­ag­er adds: Gen Z’s cre­den­tials when it comes to car­ing about the envi­ron­ment are sec­ond to none.

But one area where it seems they are yet to make the link is farming. 

Agri­cul­ture plays a vital role in tack­ling cli­mate change, pro­tect­ing and farm­ing with nature, and feed­ing the nation sus­tain­ably.

Open Farm Sun­day is all about break­ing down bar­ri­ers and cre­at­ing con­nec­tions, chal­leng­ing out­dat­ed per­cep­tions, and show­ing every­one, just how inno­v­a­tive, diverse and for­ward-look­ing farm­ing real­ly is.”

The research also unearthed what one ques­tion Gen Z’s would ask a farmer if they could: 

  • What their job is like day-to-day (16%)
  • How they became a farmer (9%)
  • What are the big issues for farm­ing in the future (20%).

Open Farm Sun­day 2025 gives farm­ers the chance to bring to life how they work with nature and har­ness tech­nol­o­gy to pro­duce food with care for the environment. 

With spe­cial thanks to our Open Farm Sun­day prin­ci­pal spon­sors: AHDB, Arla Foods, BASF, Coop, Defra, Fron­tier Agri­cul­ture, John Deere, LEAF Mar­que, M&S, McDonald’s, NFU, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose. 

For the full press release, view here.

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