The latest findings from Lantra, the Sector Skills Council for land-based, aquaculture and environmental industries, indicate a rise in employer demand for more advanced technical and commercial skills, as Scotland’s land-based and aquaculture industries seeks up to 30,000 new entrants by 2020.

Lantra undertake regular industry research as part of their Skills Assessment, an on-going research programme which accumulates employment statistics from the UKCES Employer Skills Survey, The Labour Force Survey (LFS), the Inter-Departmental Business Register and other primary research sources. The latest research was conducted through 2013.

Although Lantra’s research highlighted a relatively low level of vacancies across these industries, it is forecast that as many as 30,000 more people could be required by 2020 with a particularly high demand for employees with technical and commercial skills.

William Fergusson, the National Director for Lantra in Scotland comments: “Across the land-based, aquaculture and environment industries in Scotland the demand for technical and commercial skills has risen sharply over last 5-10 years. For example, the growing need for food security and continuity of supply requires new agronomy and intensive farming methods requiring advanced technical skills in the operation of machinery, automation systems, robotics and ICT technology to boost productivity. Higher standards in food quality, traceability and quality assurance is also demanding greater commercial knowledge from supply chain management to sales and marketing and risk management.”

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) have been working with Lantra and major industry employers to provide practical solutions to meet many of these skills demands, spearheaded by the Modern Apprenticeship Scheme.

Lantra Awards, Lantra’s training and qualifications awarding body, has also recently developed a suite of new Leadership and Management training courses to help build commercial skills sets for those working in the land-based industries.