Agriculture

Career Overview

Rural practice surveyors apply specialist knowledge of rural assets, including land, farm and other rural business buildings, crops, farm machinery and livestock, to value, sell and manage property. They advise clients on the best ways of selling property, eg through auction and farm sale specialist press.

Rural estates are often run by surveyors, who are responsible for managing and developing:

♣ Arable and livestock farms

♣ Forestry

♣ Fishing

♣ Hunting and shooting rights

♣ Tenanted properties.

Rural practice surveyors may also act as advisers to government bodies, local authorities and other groups with an interest in rural land use.

work activities

Work activities will vary between those who work for a commercial management partnership dealing with several clients and those who manage particular estates for clients. Excepting this distinction, a wide range of activities are typical for many surveyors working in rural practice.
These include:

♣ Valuing rural land and property, crops, machinery, livestock and trees

♣ Discussing with clients the most effective way to market and sell their property, and other assets

♣ Following the process of the sales transaction and advising vendors of progress

♣ Helping clients who wish to buy rural properties, such as farms or smallholdings, by providing detailed information about the property, the land, and other assets, noting problems that might arise, legal questions that might need to be asked, etc..

♣ Perusing farm accounts and having enough financial knowledge to interpret them

♣ Managing rural estates, which can comprise any combination of farms, tenanted dwellings and business and leisure facilities - this work often includes direct management of estate staff

♣ Overseeing the development of farming/leisure facilities to ensure they are working efficiently

♣ Issuing contracts for various aspects of land management

♣ Keeping in regular contact with estate owners to ensure that they are aware of how the business is doing, problems that are looming, etc..

♣ Representing clients, making planning applications and appeals

♣ Building and maintaining good relationships with the rural community and being well informed on all issues affecting the countryside

♣ Considering any new national or EC regulations that are likely to affect land use

♣ Providing advice to government departments, local councils, special interest groups and land users on policy issues.

Entry Requirements

Although this area of work is open to all graduates, a degree in the following subjects may increase your chances:

♣ Agriculture

♣ Forestry

♣ Estate management

♣ Land economy

♣ Land management

♣ Property management

♣ Land/estate surveying

♣ Surveying.

Pre-entry work experience on a farm, or at least on the land, is very important. Whilst this is not a formal requirement, most candidates will have this kind of experience, which increases confidence in dealing with land owners and other members of the rural community. Potential candidates will need to show evidence of the following:

♣ The ability to deal with people at all levels

♣ Tact and diplomacy

♣ Sensitivity

♣ Firmness

♣ A genuine interest in what makes the countryside 'tick'

♣ The ability to deal with and tackle a range of different problems

Training

Having completed the academic stage (a degree or postgraduate course), the route to professional qualification and chartered status is via the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC).
For anyone with a relevant degree, the assessment takes two years. If you have done an RICS-approved sandwich placement as part of your degree, this period can be reduced to eighteen months. For anyone with a non-relevant degree, it will take three years. Although it is rare for non-relevant degree holders to enter the profession, some firms will consider applicants who do not have a specific degree and will ensure that the necessary rural expertise is developed through appropriate APC training exercises and experience.
The APC is built around specific assignments linked to your chosen branch of surveying. During your training, you will have to carry out a number of relevant work assignments and complete a logbook (a record of your training and work experience). You will also have a training supervisor (a member of your employer's staff). Towards the end of your training period, you will have to produce a 3,000-word report, which is used as the basis for an oral examination by an assessment panel of three people. After this, you will have one final interview. You are then free to practice, and to call yourself a chartered surveyor.

Related jobs

♣ Agricultural auctioneer

♣ Agricultural consultant/adviser

♣ gricultural surveyor

♣ Agricultural valuer

♣ Estate agency sales negotiator

♣ Estate manager/land agent

♣ Farm manager

♣ Forest manager/forester

♣ Land/geomatics surveyor