A Day in the Life: Land-based careers – An opportunity to grow

If you are curious about how things work, or want to learn more about yourself and the world around you, then you could be suited to a career in agriculture, horticulture, equine or forestry. James Maher, Education Resource Specialist, Teagasc Curriculum Development and Standards Unit has details

These land based working environments allow you to continually learn and develop your knowledge, your technical, people and managerial skills.

Why are the people that work in land-based jobs so interested in what they do?

Possible reasons include:

• Having the freedom to make decisions and mistakes
• Working with and learning from others to keep improving on what you do and how you do it
• Knowing that another chance to learn is just around the corner as the life cycle of crops or animals begin again.
• Knowing that what you do can make a difference to the environment.

Teagasc has a range of courses in Agriculture, Horticulture, Equine, and Forestry that combine knowledge and skills that help you on your career journey.

Level 5 full-time courses focus on building the learner’s knowledge and technical skills. For example, skills at level 5 in agriculture could be from animal or crop husbandry; and, for equine courses skills could include horse riding and horse care.

Level 6 courses include a management element as well as technical knowledge to help the learner develop their own personal ability and confidence to manage a farm enterprise.

Learners begin with the level 5 course, but are strongly advised to complete the level 5 and level 6 courses to have a level of training for “Young Trained Farmer” status.  

It is also possible to complete agriculture or horticulture courses as a mature student on a part-time or distance basis at a later date if not as a full-time student.

A number of level 7 and level 8 Institute of Technology providers have Teagasc as their partner to deliver the more hands-on land-based modules.

Graduates whose careers bring them to work in the agri-food industry, benefit greatly from having a strong technical background that a Teagasc course gives them. You never really stop learning, and that is what makes it an interesting career, so there will always be opportunities for short courses throughout your career. The most exciting part of a land-based career has to be the variety, and the sense that you are continually learning and improving. No day is like the previous one.

The Teagasc Course Prospectus and Education section of the Teagasc website gives more detail on the Teagasc agriculture, horticulture, equine and forestry courses available, who to contact and how to apply.

Give yourself that opportunity to grow.

Join Teagasc for a series of exciting virtual events for Science Week (November 8-15) as part of ‘The Festival of Farming and Food – SFI Science Week at Teagasc’. The core theme for Science Week 2020 is ‘Science Week - Choosing our Future’ focusing on how science can improve our lives in the future, and in the present. This will explore how science can help us to make positive choices that will impact the environment, our health, and our quality of life. Changes based in scientific evidence that we make today can hugely improve our future life, but also right now. Join our events on Zoom and get a chance to put your questions to our scientists in our live Q&As.

Click here to register.

We’d love to hear from you. Be part of The Festival of Farming and Food journey on Social Media:

@Teagasc @ScienceWeek #FestFarmFood #BelieveInScience #ScienceWeek