Case studies: Farm manager: Sam

Sam graduated from Harper Adams University College in 2009 with a BSc Honours in Agriculture with Land and Farm Management after a four-year sandwich course including a year's paid placement. Sam now works as a trainee assistant farm manager at Custan Farms East Anglia.

I always knew I wanted a varied career that was not office based. My father is a farm manager and this introduced me to farming and, as I grew up working holidays on farm, I realised I wanted to be in farming.

Farm management is a large scale business, requiring increased professionalism in all areas. During my degree course, which included a one-year work placement, I gained ability and confidence to make decisions - good ones - and justify them and learned how to go about achieving the objective and reviewing my actions. My degree subject gave me a broad understanding, related to farming practice. There was specialisation into certain key areas and I acquired essential technical knowledge. I would say the subjects taught in my degree course were as essential as my practical experience for gaining my position.

The job I'm in now was advertised in the Farmers Weekly . As my role develops, I'm gaining more practical experience and also opportunities to see farming as a commercial enterprise that requires good business skills. As time moves on and I prove myself, more and more responsibility will be delegated over to me, allowing others in the team time to develop other areas of the business.

My responsibilities include, work force time planning, organising workers' work loads and movements, estate work, spraying, drilling and future planning. I enjoy the variety of work, being outside and working as part of a team, as well as the increasing responsibility. I'd say the less enjoyable parts of the job are being at the mercy of the 'middle man' when a fair price is not achieved for a commodity, and sometimes cold mornings - cold hands! But there's great satisfaction in being in a changing and developing industry. In the future my ultimate aim is to progress to being a farm/estate manager.