Christmas is just round the corner and panto season has commenced! This year’s Perth pantomime is Jack and the Beanstalk, which I do like better than Cinderella, as it does deal rather effectively with a terribly invasive, non-native species, even if the crimes of theft and slaying of very large people are somewhat glossed over… Meanwhile Cinderella, when offered whatever her heart desired, asked for a good night out, rather than a change to her terms and conditions of employment.
Thinking about panto took me back to that very early blog, produced not long after I started at Lantra, which was triggered when land-based industries were referred to as ‘Cinderella sectors’ at a meeting. The people who said it meant that land-based was underappreciated and undeserving of its poor treatment.
I agree with this, and although a good night out might be darn tempting right now[1], our sector needs to ask for more than a chance to go to the ball. To demand more than a short-term fix that disappears at midnight, leaving just a glass welly in its wake. And we can’t just wait patiently for the Fairy Godmother to arrive.
Jobs in the land and sea sectors are currently undervalued and underappreciated career options, and yet are crucial if we are to meet our emissions and biodiversity targets while using our land and water to efficiently produce food and materials. We need the best graduates, the most skilled pupils and the most passionate advocates, influencers and collaborators if we are to address the damage done to our planet and to replenish its resources.
To this end, I am delighted to have been Co-Chairing the Commission for the Land Based Learning Review. A group established to provide independent, evidence-based advice to Scottish Ministers and to undertake a root and branch review of learning in Scotland’s land-based and aquaculture sectors — from early years to adulthood — to enable more people, and specifically more women, to work with and on the land.
The group will support the Scottish Government’s ambitions of delivering a just transition to net-zero, by ensuring our learning system equips people with the skills and knowledge needed to work in Scotland’s land-based sectors as well as any new and emerging occupations required on our journey to net zero.
The full report will be available soon and though I don’t want to share any spoilers, it is clear that more people wanting to ‘live, work and play’ in nature is ‘A Good Thing’, yet by secondary school, the time that our young people get to spend outdoors is almost non-existent. More than ever, young people want to make a difference and help our environment, yet the sector is struggling to recruit. It is clear something isn’t quite joined up. It is as if land-based careers and nature-based careers are two completely different things that happen in different places. They aren’t.
We clearly need to produce high quality food as well as materials such as timber, but we need the right product in the right place, ideally combining knowledge of sites gained over generations, the experience of others and the best science-based, carbon calculator tools. To capture carbon, support biodiversity, and provide key ecosystem services.
If we can better communicate that how we use the resources ‘on our doorstep’ can help us solve global problems, how you can work in farming or forestry AND conservation (at the same time), I think our Cinderella might be able to take ownership of her future back from those who seek to limit her options, without the need for a Fairy Godmother.
So, in conclusion and to stretch the analogy even further, whilst the ‘land-based’ Cinderella might look a bit grubby at the moment, by speaking up, and with a bit of help from nature, she can turn around that image, whilst at the same time helping everyone to live happily ever after.