East Durham College agricultural lecturer Shelly Whitfield is looking to pass on her passion for farming to a new up and coming generation of farmers.
Shelly joined the College at the start of the 2011/12 academic year teaching agricultural students and is now busy encouraging young people who are not sure what they want to do after school to consider a career in agriculture.
And Shelly is in a great position to help advise young people as she herself was a student of the Houghall Campus agricultural course from 2002 to 2004 and then went on to working in farming for over six years.
“Farming has always been in my blood, I was brought up on a farm and the whole idea of farming was pretty much bred into me,” Shelly said.
“I joined the College back in 2002 studying on the agriculture course I now teach; I really enjoyed my time here and learned a lot.
“75 per cent of our land in the UK is used for agriculture and 12.5 per cent of the population are actively involved in food production from farm to folk. This large and dynamic industry offers a tremendous range of career opportunities.
“Once I finished college I didn’t want to take my education further, I knew that university just wasn’t the route for me. So I then went to do the one thing I loved and worked in farming until I got the chance to come back to the College.”
When the chance came along to come back and teach the next generation of farmers to come through the ranks at the Houghall Campus, Shelly jumped at the opportunity.
”It was a fantastic opportunity to come back here and teach. It was something different to what I had been doing but I have a huge passion for the agriculture industry and farming.
“I knew I had a vast amount of knowledge on the subject area and I was excited to come to the College and pass that knowledge on to the farmers of the future.”
For more details on agricultural courses or other land based courses at the Houghall Campus please search the Course Finder.
Are you a former student who’d like to tell us your story? Click here to fill in our student Alumni form!
