Being a young person in the farming sector
Watch our discussion with young farmer, Katherine Cross, who speaks to us about her experience in the agriculture sector and joining a local young farmer group
This week marked the 2025 National Young Farmers’ Week. The event takes place each year and offers the chance to celebrate the dedicated work of young farmers and show how they are truly making a difference in rural communities.
The National Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (NFYFC) has been using this year’s event to kick-off its official countdown to its centenary in 2032, and to mark the week ourselves, we recently visited Katherine Cross, a CLA member in Suffolk, to hear how she has benefited from being part of Debenham Young Farmers.
As she explains in the short video below, Katherine talks about her passion for farming, the benefits of her young farmers group and what some of her current priorities are on her family farm.
“You do form good friendships with people in the young farmers group and then be friends for life,” says Katherine.
It’s good to know that I’ve got people there that I can call. If you do ever need help with anything, or you’re just needing someone to talk to, there is always someone at the end of the phone.
“Farming is quite an isolating job and knowing that you have got a group of people that are in similar lines of work as you, or going through similar issues, it’s good to know that you’ve got people to discuss things with.”
If you are a CLA member, we encourage you add the young people involved in your farming enterprise or rural businesses to your existing membership. This allows them to benefit from the array of services on offer from the CLA. To do this, contact your regional office.
In addition, the CLA Next Generation Network aims to bring together young entrepreneurs and land managers to collaborate and discuss new ideas. More than 120 rural business managers and members shared stories, discussed challenges and debated new ideas at the third annual CLA Next Generation Conference earlier this year. And stay tuned for further updates for 2026 in our Next Generation WhatsApp community.