North Yorkshire teen kickstarts chicken career with supermarket’s help

Sainsburys unveils its first class of farming apprentices including aspiring chicken farmer 17-year-old Kyle Merry from Thirsk, whose apprenticeship will see him gain first-hand experience at Catton-based Yorkshire Farmhouse Eggs.

Seventeen-year-old Kyle Merry from Thirsk will be spending much of the next 20 months gaining first hand experience of his chosen vocation at local firm Yorkshire Farmhouse Eggs.

The opportunity has arisen through supermarket chain Sainsbury’s new agriculture apprenticeship course. Launched for the first time this year, it offers a small group of selected young people the chance to learn the ropes on the farm.

Kyle was chosen from a long list of applicants and has been getting started on the scheme over the last few weeks by taking academic classes at Aston, near Birmingham and visiting the Catton-based egg firm and Sainsbury’s egg supplier that he has been paired with.

Kyle, who will be blogging about his experiences, said he was attracted to farming because he wants to work outdoors.

“I did the first year of A-levels then realised it wasn’t for me at that time,” he said. “This hands-on learning is perfect and the one thing I knew for certain is that I wanted to work outdoors but doing something that kept my mind busy.

“I’m doing my apprenticeship locally with Yorkshire Farmhouse Eggs and I definitely want to keep on working with chickens. When I’m finished I hope I will be able to go on to levels 3 and 4 of the apprenticeships and maybe finally do a degree.”

The UK farming industry will need 60,000 new employees by 2020 just to replace retiring farmers, as fewer and fewer young people have entered the profession in recent years.

Sainsbury’s is the first major retailer to launch an apprenticeship scheme for horticulture and agriculture. It seesyoung people from around the UK aged 16 and above being given the chance to work with some of its most progressive food suppliers.