Clonakilty Agri College set to hold open day in early March
FRIDAY March 6 will see the spring education open day taking place in Clonakilty Agricultural College, County Cork.
Clonakilty Agricultural College – based in Darrara just outside the town of Clonakilty – provides agricultural education and training in through its own full-time and part-time QQI programmes, and also in conjunction with three higher-education institutions in the region: CIT, IT Tralee and UCC.
People coming to see the college and what’s on offer will be brought through the different programmes that lead to qualifications from Level Six up to Level Eight.
For students starting first year next September, they will follow on with the changes to the programme that were implemented this year and which the college says have helped with the learning experience.
Students will go on a fourweek placement in October, and return to that farm again in March.
During their time in the college between September and May, they’ll get the foundation training in areas of livestock husbandry, grassland management, farm business and more specific training in areas such as pesticide application.
There is also a large emphasis on farm safety, soils and the environment and sustainability.
In second year (Level Six), which starts the following September, the course specialises in either drystock (cattle and sheep) or the longer-established Dairy Herd Management course.
Both courses have longer periods of on-farm training incorporating the calving/lambing periods on farms, but also the breeding season on cattle and dairy farms.
“Graduates of Clonakilty’s Level Six programmes have many routes of progression after the two years with us,” said Anne Marie Sutton.
“The Level Six, in its own right, is required for applying for jobs with the Department of Agriculture.
“By 2021 there will be an apprenticeship route in place with a Level Seven degree qualification.
“This will be an important extension to the current programmes as there is an ever-increasing demand from farmers in the region to have enthusiastic, forward-thinking young people looking to manage the farms of the next decade.
“In this respect it is one area of the rural economy where it is a sellers’ market.”
The higher education routes still exist and continue to expand, with graduates of Darrara able to gain “advanced entry” to degree courses in agriculture in all of the Institutes of Technology in Munster, including Cork, Tralee and Waterford.
For people who have a non-agricultural qualification, there is the option of gaining a Teagasc Green Cert (the Specific Purpose Certificate in Farming) through a part-time route.
The Open Day starts at 11am on the morning of March 6, and all are welcome to explore their options in agricultural education and job prospects that can arise from coming to Darrara in 2020.