23 February 2010

Greenmount & Kilkenny share success

John Fay, Director of the College of Agriculture Food and Rural Enterprise, (CAFRE) hosted a dinner, sponsored by the Ulster Framer’s Union, at Greenmount Campus for students from Kildalton College, Piltown, Co Kilkenny. The group were staying at Greenmount Campus as part of an exchange programme between Kildalton College and CAFRE. Eighteen agricultural students from Kildalton swapped places with 15 Higher National Diploma students from Greenmount Campus. Both groups spent a week at each others College, attending workshops, carrying out milking duties in the dairy units and visiting commercial farms. They were also honoured by a guided tour of Parliament buildings at Stormount, hosted by the Minister for Agriculture Michelle Gildernew MP MLA.

“I am delighted to welcome Kildalton students back to Greenmount,” said John Fay. “This is the second year of the exchange programme, and I can only look forward to the continuation of this successful partnership between our two Colleges. There has been a very full programme of events and I know that when you return to your respective Colleges and farms that you will bring with you a wealth of ideas and experiences that will be of benefit to you in your future careers.

John Fay went on to acknowledge the considerable effort that staff from both CAFRE and Kildalton have put into the exchange programme and as well as the farmers who welcomed the students onto their farms.

He concluded by expressing his thanks to Mr Clarke Black Chief Executive of the Ulster farmers Union for the union’s on-going support of the exchange programme.

CAFRE Greenmount staff pictured with Clarke Black (CEO of the Ulster Farmer’s Union) and students from Kildalton College in Co. Kilkenny.