Projects
I was very pleased to be invited to judge the Personal Expressions competition at Chatsworth earlier this year. As this was the first time I had been involved in such a project, I was not sure what to expect, but I felt that any scheme to bring together young people from rural areas was to be encouraged.
Organisations such as the Young Farmers play a role that is perhaps even more vital today
than in the past. Although we live in one of the most beautiful areas of England, life for
many rural people can be very isolating. There are fewer and fewer people working the land
- 81,500 farm workers have left farming since 1994. Those who remain are working very long
hours, and there is a continuing decline in rural facilities. With the loss of post offices,
village shops and pubs, opportunities to interact with neighbours become rarer. There are fewer
local social occasions, with some villages becoming little more than dormitories. This is difficult
for many groups of people in the countryside, but for none more so than young people. Statistics
recently issued by the Countryside Agency show that the only age group where more people are
leaving the countryside than coming to live there is the 16-24 group. Of course, the escalation
of house prices in rural areas encourages this trend.
The photographs show very clearly the changing way of life in the countryside. More valuably,
they give an insight into the Young Farmers' attitudes towards the changes. Many of these youngsters
will be the future of farming, and as the new rules under the European Common Agricultural
Policy are introduced, these changes may well become more dramatic for everyone involved in
agriculture.
The work also shows the astonishing variety of life in the countryside - Derbyshire has great
diversity in its land- scapes, and also in the types of farming undertaken here.
Most importantly of all, the exhibition gives us an insight into the lives of the people working in these landscapes. I very much hope that it will help to improve understanding of, and amongst, the Derbyshire people caught on camera by these young photographers.
Rt Hon Patrick McLoughlin MP
