Young voices from agriculture's next generation took centre stage in a debate on the future of farming at the Royal Norfolk Show.

The Norfolk Voices for Norfolk Futures event gave a platform for young people to map out their vision for 2050, and their priorities for policymakers.

The discussion urged the industry's older generations to "listen up, rather than talking down" to the younger generations who carry the responsibility of ensuring food production remains profitable and environmentally sustainable in the years to come.

It heard from Wymondham High School students, showgoers and young professionals, who each outlined their views on the industry's key challenges and opportunities.

Recurring themes included the need to lower carbon emissions, invest in science and precision farming technologies, reduce agrochemical use, improve school education, focus on homegrown and organic food, reduce meat and dairy consumption, and make nature and conservation central to agricultural businesses.

One of the panellists was Jamie Hipperson, who works on a small arable farm near Reepham.

The 19-year-old wants to see changes in the education system to help improve understanding of the industry and encourage people into farming careers.

"One of the main issues I see at the moment is the lack of youngsters coming up into the agricultural world," he said.

"Going through high school, you don't really hear about farming very much, unless it is in the odd geography class where it is mainly the negatives - 'Look what these farmers are doing applying pesticides' and so forth. It is not putting across a good image of farmers and what they should be doing.

"I feel if schools could implement more farming-based topics throughout most of their classes, that would be very beneficial."

He also drew attention to the increasing mental health pressures felt by farmers in isolated workplaces, struggling to cope with increasing economic volatilities.

Another speaker was Katie Crawford, from a farming family in south Norfolk, who is a farming consultant and trainee agronomist with Ceres Rural.

She said one of the most important current issues is the "delivery and consistency of environmental grants and government funding".

"I think last week with the most recent changes to the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), this chopping and changing of schemes make it really hard for farmers to plan and become resilient in the future," she said.

"It is unnerving how quick these changes are, and it can only slow down the uptake of the schemes and the delivery of what they are trying to achieve.

"However I think there is some positivity to come out of these changes and the fact the government is trying to allow some flexibility to let farmers choose what they want to do."

She said other major challenges are the availabilty of farm labour and the lack of opportunities for young people to get into the industry.

Evan Burdett, a farm environment assistant at Norfolk FWAG (Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group), called for a complete integration of conservation within food production.

"We need to do away with the false dichotomy of nature and farming being separate entities," he said.

"We need them to work together. We need nature-based solutions for flood defence and climate change mitigation, in the form of carbon storage.

"Norfolk is already home to some innovative and forward-thinking farmers, who are already doing the right thing to bring nature back into farming and protect their resources, their soil, their water.

"However, the actions of a few strong-willed forward-thinking individuals are not going to be enough in the face of a climate and biodiversity crisis.

"What we need going forward is a collaborative between farmers working together to achieve common objectives which are specific to their areas, which is going to be important not only for nature recovery but for the future of food production."

The debate at the Royal Norfolk Show, part of the new Food, Farming and Environment Forum led by the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association and its partners, was chaired by Emily Norton, head of rural research at Savills UK.

"We cannot have the same old voices in the room, giving the same old tired excuses about how to do things better," she said.

"We absolutely need to hear the future voices to make sure we are thinking and reimagining things differently.

"This is not about incremental improvements, it is about transformational change."