Victoria benefits from fantastic industry links
August 15, 2022
“A career in the agriculture industry is something that I have always wanted,” says Victoria Turtle, a first year student studying a BSc (Hons) Degree in Agricultural Technology.
Victoria says, “Growing up on a dairy farm in County Antrim, I developed my interest in animal nutrition, so when I was deciding what to study after A-levels, agriculture was an obvious choice. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Agricultural Technology is delivered by CAFRE in partnership with Queen’s University Belfast (QUB). This means that first and second year are delivered at CAFRE’s Greenmount Campus and the final year is delivered at the School of Biological Science at QUB”.
Since arriving at Greenmount in September 2021, Victoria has realised that like most farms, the CAFRE Farm is a resource with food production at its heart, but that is where the similarity ends. It performs many other roles including helping students develop their knowledge and skills across the farm enterprises.
During semester one, Victoria completed an Enterprise Studies module, where practical assessments were completed in the CAFRE Dairy Centre. As part of the dairy option of the Enterprise Studies module, Victoria had the opportunity to work with the dairy technologists to develop a presentation based on the CAFRE herd and data collected from it. The availability of real, up to date data is a huge bonus for students as they can fully grasp the importance of the collection and quality assurance of data when developing their data analysis and interpretation skills.
The linkages CAFRE has with the agriculture industry are something that Victoria has found incredible. Farm walks, industry visits and guest lecturers have all helped to develop knowledge of the industry. One such linkage is the Agriculture Bursary Award Programme, where 22 bursaries valued at £1000 each are awarded by industry to Higher Education students studying at CAFRE.
Victoria was awarded the 2021 Fane Valley bursary, which included £1000 and the opportunity to completing a one year work placement within the company.