The growth and interest in Ireland’s agricultural industry is thriving. Popularity of careers and the numbers of applicants in agriculture, horticulture and food courses have in the main increased across the board. Applications have increased by just under 25 per cent since 2008, according to the Central Applications Office (CAO) this morning.
Agri courses in the whole have increased in Dublin’s Institute of Technology and institute of technologies across Ireland. All agri courses in University College Dublin have noted a big surge in popularity, with its Dairy Business degree now 445 points. And forestry is also on the up. Very popular too  is veterinary nursing across the board and culinary arts and food science. Also noted was a slight drop in horticulture in some third-level institutions.
Below is a snapshot of just how popular and thriving Irish third-level agriculture is.
College        course                           2013/2012 points
Athlone IT AL 839 Human and Animal Toxicology 275/ 275
Athlone IT AL 731 Veterinary Nursing 435/405
Carlow IT CW168 Environmental Science 390/ 320
Cork IT CR 365 Environmental Science and Sustainable Technology 300/310
Cork IT CR 510 Sustainable Energy 305/300
University College Cork CK 505 Food Science 400/405
Dublin City University DC 170 Horticulture 350/380
Dublin Institute of Technology DT 416 Culinary Entrepreneurship 350/355
Dublin Institute of Technology DT Food Innovation 390/380
IT Blanchardstown BN 113 Horticulture 215/225
Trinity College Dublin TR 077 Earth Science 490/490
University College Dublin DN 250 Agricultural Science 455/450
University College Dublin DN 251 Animal Science – Equine 445/440
University College Dublin DN 252 Dairy Business 445/430
University College Dublin DN 261 Food Science 470/455
University College Dublin DN 471 Forestry 385/350
University College Dublin DN 272 Horticulture Landscape 325/3335
Galway /Mayo IT GA 780 Applied Freshwater and Marine Biology 370/375
NUI /Galway GY Earth and Ocean Science GY 314 380/380
Limerick IT LG Environmental and Natural Resource Management (Thurles) LD 408 275/270
University of Limerick LM 069 Food Science and Health LM 375/390
St Angela’s – Sligo AS 051 Food and Business Management 220/270
Galway –Mayo IT GA 172 Rural Enterprise and Agri –Business (Year 1 at Mountbellew)
Galway –Mayo IT GA 301 Culinary Arts 160/200
Galway –Mayo IT GA 777 Agriculture & Environmental 300/350
Letterkenny IT LY317 Culinary Arts at Letterkenny 145/150
Letterkenny IT LY 346 Culinary Arts at Killybegs AQA
Letterkenny IT LY 826 Applied Agriculture 220
Limerick IT LC 284 Agricultural Mechanisation Silesian Agri College Pulaski 315/325
Limerick IT LC 298 Culinary Arts 320/315
IT Tralee TL 620 Calvary Arts 135/130
IT Tralee TL 719 Culinary Arts 250
IT Tralee TL 744 Agriculture Engineering 240/230
IT Tralee TL 748 Agricultural Science 300/305
IT Tralee TL 749 Food Science and Innovation 305
Waterford IT WD 076 Forestry 280/270
Waterford IT WD 079 Agricultural Science 410/390
Waterford IT WD 096 Horticulture (Waterford) 220/215
Waterford IT WD 097 Horticulture (Dublin- Botanic Gardens) 205/210
Waterford IT WD 164 Food Science with Business 255/245
Waterford IT WD Culinary Arts 220/210
