Skills, skills, skills!

Since I joined many moons ago, more than 100 keen freshfaced youths have joined the ranks of the club. I can still remember my first meeting like it was yesterday and yet attempting to tally up the meetings I've attended is more than a little daunting.

During my time in Young Farmers I've held a variety of office bearer positions, ranging from girls convenor to district secretary. Each role has brought it's own challenges and rewards and I am delighted to now find myself as the Angus Tayside District agri and rural affairs representative.

Many before me have raved about the social side of Young Farmers on this page and without doubt you meet people who will be your friends for life. However, I think one of the greatest advantages of being a member of Young Farmers is the learning of so many life skills, quite often without even realising it at the time. Let me pick out a few examples.

As soon as someone attends their first meeting, their communication skills improve. Talking to people you have never met before, some of who will share your interests and some of who won't, can undoubtedly only make you a better communicator. The making of new friends at meeting can also do wonders for the confidence of the individual.

After becoming a member and enjoying the first stage of being a Young Farmer, many progress on to the club committee. This next stage again only boosts the range of skills gained. A committee is a team, and committee with poor team work skills will fail.

Committee meetings can be challenging occasions, when everyone wants to get their point across and think their idea is best, but learning to be diplomatic and tolerant of others will result in a successful outcome.

Whilst some members are happy to remain as a committee member, others take on office bearer positions. This can range from the smaller jobs such as hall convenor to the top jobs of chairman, secretary and treasurer.

There can be few better opportunities to hone your organisation, leadership and communication skills than taking on one of these top jobs.

Then, there are the specialist meetings where a whole host of attributes are learned such as mock auctions where you require to keep cool and level headed when the pressure is on. In competitions, like stockjudging where not only do your livestock judging skills improve but reason-giving is ideal for developing the powers of persuasion and the skills of a prize-winning speechmaker will be used time after time. Without doubt, some of the top 'Best man' speeches I've heard are by those who tried their hand at competitive speechmaking.

A prize certificate many not be the only benefit to taking part in competitions. For example, the 'Member of the Year' competition can often be the closest thing a member experiences to a job interview before the actual thing.

The list goes on. Without even realising it, members are racking up a skill set that most employers, whatever career path they choose, seek out when recruiting staff.

It's pretty clear that Young Farmers teach skills for life, skills for employment but also skills for taking advantage of the vast array of opportunities within Young Farmers.

Reminiscing over my time in Young Farmers there is very little I would change. However. the one regret I have is not taking advantage of international travel opportunities sooner than I did.

Reaching a point where I realised travelling with SAYFC was still to be ticked off my YF bucket list, I decided to put that right. I applied to attend the Argentina tour and I'm certain the qualities I'd gained through being a member for so long helped secure my place.

The Argentina trip was an eye-opening experience to say the least. We saw so much and met so many people, learning all the time. The conclusion I came to was that we really don't know how lucky we are in Scotland.

Yes, in Argentina, farmers make great use of genetically modified crops, a technology that looks like we will be unable to take advantage of for the foreseeable future, and their beef production is some of the most efficient in the world, but the challenges they face are massive.

Farmers haven't received subsidies for a generation, with the government deeming them unnecessary. So much so that farmers are now taxed on their produce destined for the export market, up 35% for soya.

Government officials are on site of the livestock markets, ensuring the price farmers receive for their stock doesn't get beyond a certain level. The infrastructure of the country is poor, with roads, railways and electricity supplies in need of desperate repair. The population has absolutely no concern regarding where their food comes from.

The weather so far this year has been far from ideal, but nothing to the extremes of Argentina. A run of drought years resulted in farmers investing in irrigation systems, an exercise made even more difficult when the banks won't lend any money. This long drought was then followed by a run of years with above average rainfall, resulting in thousands of dollars' worth of irrigation kit sitting in flooded fields doing nothing.

Perhaps worst of all, there is no such organisation as Young Farmers in Argentina! The phrase 'the more you put in, the more you get out' gets used time and time again, but in the case of Young Farmers it really could not be more true.