Are you interested in working in a rapidly changing industry that is vital to providing the food on your table? Working in agriculture could give you the opportunity to produce vegetable crops.

Approximately 70% of horticultural produce is vegetables, the most important of which are peas, cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots, Brussels sprouts, runner and French beans, lettuces, onions, broad beans and celery.

Vegetables are grown in one of two ways. They can be sown directly from seed or reared to the seedling stage and then planted out. Planting seedlings requires more labour but ensures that no space is wasted if any seeds fail to germinate. The use of glasshouses extends the growing season, some simply providing protection from the weather, others being heated so that crops can be grown earlier or later.

As well as protection from the weather, plants must be protected from pests, diseases and weeds. Controlling chemicals are widely applied by various means including spraying or fumigating. Where possible, these chemicals are designed to kill the target pests without harming any useful animals that might aid the farmer. Horticulturists have made commercial use of the pest's natural enemies to control them. The use of any organism to regulate the numbers of pests is called biological control.

Part of the skill in horticulture is in harvesting the produce at the right time and storing it in good condition. Vegetable and salad crops such as cabbages and lettuces are picked by hand. Others such as peas are harvested mechanically.

Once the crop has been harvested there are several ways in which it can be stored, depending on the type of produce. The bulk root vegetables such as beet root, onions and potatoes may be stored in clamps or barns for at least three months where they are kept cool, dry and airy. The remainder is put into cold store for sale later on, thus giving the United Kingdom a year round supply.

The vegetables and fruit are packed into trays, boxes, sacks or punnets, so reducing the risk of damage and making transportation in bulk easier. They are then taken to wholesalers or retailers in refrigerated conditions. Many growers do not have the facilities for packing and grading, so individual growers send their produce to a central store where this is carried out.

If delivered to a central fresh food market the vegetables and fruit are then sold to retailers (greengrocers). When the vegetables and fruit eventually reach the shops, they are still in their finest conditions as they have been chilled from farm to shop.

There are many ways to enter a career in vegetable production. If you have no formal qualifications but can demonstrate your enthusiasm for working in this area, there are opportunities for you.

The following websites have more information on vegetable production:

Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) - www.face-online.org.uk

National Farmers Union (NFU) – www.nfu.org.uk