The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) is confirming a strong interest in its agricultural degree courses.
Current placements include students from many parts of the UK. The college offers two honours degree options at the present time: one focuses on agricultural technology; the other on sustainable agriculture with agri-business.
The technology course is jointly provided by CAFRE and Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), with the sustainable agriculture degree validated by Ulster University.
A cohort of first year agricultural technology students, accompanied by CAFRE lecturer, Carrie Smith, recently visited the EasyCare sheep enterprise of Campbell Tweed, who farms close to Ballygally in east Co Antrim.
Agricultural degree courses
Smith told Agriland: “The technology degree is a four-year course, the first two years of which are centred at CAFRE’s Greenmount campus. A 48-week or 12-week work placement follows, with the final year topics delivered by staff at Queen’s University.
“There are 18 first year students currently enrolled for the course. The annual intake includes young people from a wide range of backgrounds.
“Yes, many have a direct farming background. But increasingly, we are welcoming students from other walks of life, all keen to find out more about farming and food. And obviously, this is a link back to agriculture.”
The CAFRE representative outlined the benefits of the course for potential students.
“The course covers the production elements across the dairy, beef, sheep pig, poultry and arable sectors. They also get an opportunity to find out about the principles behind sustainable agriculture,” she said.
“The scope of the agri-business sector is also included within the course structure. It is a very comprehensive and wide-ranging course.”
Where sheep production is concerned, the students get the opportunity of learning about the linkages between lowland, upland, and hill-based production systems.
“Quite a number of our students have no direct experience of sheep production. So it’s important that they get to know about the sector from a production perspective,” said Smith.
“Farm visits allow the students to see how a wide range of management ideas are implemented. They also get the opportunity to bring new ideas back to their own farms.”
Graduates of agricultural technology from CAFRE/QUB are currently securing a wide range of career opportunities within the farming, food processing, and agri-business sectors.
“Some of the graduates also commit to postgraduate education with both CAFRE and QUB,” Smith commented.
“Others follow careers within the animal nutrition and animal breeding sectors. The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, of which CAFRE is a division, also employs significant numbers of agricultural technology graduates.”
Idhaya Mahimairaj was one of the students visiting the Tweed farm. Born in India, she had attended school in England for five years prior to enrolling for the CAFRE/QUB agricultural technology degree course.
Idhaya said: “Queen’s University has a very strong reputation and I wanted to travel away from home when it comes to furthering my education.
“Farming and food are very important issues around the world. And the knowledge I gain over the next few years through the degree course can be implemented anywhere.”
The visit to the Tweed farm allowed the students to gain an insight into modern sheep production systems and the growing popularity of the EasyCare breed.
A key take-home message was Campbell’s absolute commitment to performance record all the sheep within his flock.
This process begins at birth and continues right through until each animal’s departure from the farm.
