By Mark O’Neill, FACTS (Fertiliser Advisers Certification & Training Scheme), Greenmount Campus

“I have just finished the FACTS course at Greenmount campus. This is the course you are better off having if you want to go out and advise farmers on how best to use their fertiliser. It was pretty intense for the four days of the training but I’ll have to say very interesting and informative. Some of the things we covered on it were the make up of fertiliser, both organic and inorganic; fertiliser planning and the soil itself.

I decided to do the course because as Senior Assistant to the Regional Manager of Almarai, a large scale dairy company in Saudi Arabia, my job involves planning the purchase of all the crop inputs for 16,000ha of alfalfa and double crop maize silage. A big part of my work is to interpret soil analysis and provide recommendations on fertiliser use for different situations and different crops.

I always like to get on to a course now and again at Greenmount to keep me up to date with what’s happening in Northern Ireland and any new EU legislation coming out. When you come to Greenmount there always seems to be a good environment of people that know the agricultural industry and the facilities are excellent.

Hopefully next year I will be able to do the BASIS course in crop protection so that when I come back home I could work closely with arable farmers giving them sound independent advice on their crops.

Throughout my career to date I would have to say it was the National Diploma (ND) in Agriculture I got from Greenmount in the mid nineties that has provided me the foundation to progress. Topping up the ND with courses like the FACTS course now and again will hopefully keep me up to date on all the current issues in agriculture and lead to further opportunities”.

Mark O'Neill working on the FACTS course at Greenmount Campus