Farm managers and Food Harvest 2020
Graduates of the Farm Apprenticeship Scheme set up the association in 1979, and its members include some of the country’s most successful farmers. At next week’s meeting, members will discuss the role of farm managers in the Food Harvest 2020 plan to boost agri-food exports by 42%.
Announcing details of the meeting, association secretary John Fitzgerald welcomed the new Teagasc training programme for professional dairy farm managers which will be offered this year at the Teagasc Kildalton College in Piltown, Co Kilkenny.
The programme will include a two-year internship programme on the most progressive dairy farms here and overseas, to develop managerial expertise and capacity.
Mr Fitzgerald said such an internship scheme is a key ingredient for the success of Food Harvest 2020.
He added: “We need to get competent young people into the industry, and provide them with incentives to share in the success of the expansion. Young people are the lifeblood of the dairy industry, unfortunately we were not very successful in the past in putting the structures in place for young people, hence our poor age profile.”
The new Teagasc programme is a follow-on from the existing Level 6 Advanced Certificate in Dairy Herd Management programme.
Course content will include business know-how, financial and productivity indicators, technical knowledge, quality assurance, bio-security, health and safety.
For further information on the Irish Farm Managers Association, contact John Fitzgerald at 086-2524789.
