Barriers for new entrants to farming are still high even as public interest in the industry grows, farmer and social media star Cammy Wilson has said.
The Ayrshire sheep farmer made at the comments as he spoke at the 2023 agri-seminar organised by Galbraith, the rural consultancy and land agent.
He recently hit the headlines worldwide for his rescue of Fiona the sheep, who was stranded alone at the bottom of a cliff in Sutherland.
He has built up an audience of 342,000 followers on YouTube for his channel The Sheep Game, which portrays his day to day work shearing and looking after his flock of around 1,000 sheep.
However, at the conference, he said his dream was to own a farm: "I’m already in the fortunate position that I can do the job that I love, working with my flock and shearing sheep for neighbouring farmers.
"However, what I would really like is to have my own farm, to provide some security and something to hand down to my children.
“Everything that I’ve done on social media and my side businesses are with that goal in mind – trying to establish multiple income streams to hopefully buy my own farm someday."
Farming is a notoriously challenging sector to get into because most businesses are family owned, or run on a very small scale with expansion often being restricted by the scarcity of land brought to the market.
Alice Wilson, of Galbraith in Ayrshire, said new entrants to farming provided Scotland with "fresh talent, innovative ideas and are vital for the future of the industry".
However, she noted that the number of Scottish farms occupied by people under the age of 40 had dropped to around 9%.
"[This is] an issue which many of our clients are seeking to address," Ms Wilson explained.
“In Ayrshire there has been a good number of off-market land deals in recent years where the seller is keen to support the next generation coming into the sector.
"This helps ensure the long-term sustainability of the Scottish farming sector. We will keep working with Cammy and will offer any support we can to help him find a suitable landholding.”
