IFA criticises Teagasc for turning away 700 would-be farm students

TEAGASC should contract out courses to other educational bodies if it does not have the capacity to train the 700 would-be farm students turned away this year, says the IFA.

IFA president John Bryan said it is totally unacceptable that, at a time of renewed confidence in agriculture, Teagasc are turning away up to 700 students, who are interested in farming, from securing an education in the industry.

Mr Bryan said Teagasc management must prioritise available resources towards education and ensure that those interested in taking up a career in farming are accommodated in agricultural colleges this year. If Teagasc does not have the capacity themselves they should contract out to other bodies to provide courses, remaining under Teagasc supervision.

The IFA President said: “The importance of agricultural education was identified in the Food Harvest 2020 report particularly by the development of commercial and management skills as a core part of Teagasc training courses. Turning down students who want to make a career from farming sends a totally wrong message to aspiring young farmers and will restrict the capacity to achieve these targets.”

Mr Bryan said Teagasc must realise that the situation of a number of years ago where they had difficulties filling college places has dramatically changed and this must be urgently addressed by deploying resources to cater for all students who are applying for agricultural college courses this year.

Teagasc director of Knowledge Transfer Dr Tom Kelly said Teagasc had received 2,000 applications for courses, but it is limited to 850 college places. A number of these applicants will gain access to agricultural education via local VEC courses and other part-time options, other will simply choose courses geared towards other non-agri sectors.

Dr Kelly said the VEC colleges introduced a number of new horticulture courses this year, but no new agriculture courses. He said Teagasc is open to partnering with other educators to tackle the resourcing challenges facing the sector.

Dr Kelly said: “The problem is the huge amount of prep work that goes into agriculture versus any other area. It is hugely demanding on resources. With practical work, you have to break up a class of 100 into groups of 15, and each group needs a trainer.

“We want to identify components in our courses that can be provided by other colleges such as the VEC.”

Teagasc director Professor Gerry Boyle has repeatedly expressed his unease at the contradiction between Ireland’s agri-food sector expansion goals and the dwindling resources available to Teagasc. The national agricultural training body’s ability to deliver new courses is limited due to the moratorium on recruitment imposed on the civil service by the Government.