Improved education will drive progress within the agri-food sectors

The good news is that Northern Ireland produces tremendous numbers of well educated and highly qualified young people. Exam results, year-in: year-out, verify this reality.

The challenge for the farming and food sectors is that of encouraging a greater proportion of this cohort to join their ranks

Over the last number of years those involved in agriculture and food have been told by government representatives and opinion formers that farming is no longer a sunset industry.

And given the current assessments concerning the world’s projected population growth over the next half century or so it’s hard not to agree with these assessments. All of these extra mouths will have to be fed and farmers will be challenged with the responsibility of meeting this need.

It, therefore, makes sense to encourage as many young people as possible to follow a career in the agri food sectors.

If jobs cannot be found for our graduates and diplomats at home, then no doubt they will find opportunities to flourish and express their talents abroad.

However, there is one possible fly in the ointment: and that’s the commitment by government to make the requisite training facilities available.

Cuts in education and training will have the long term consequence of diminishing the potential of our economy to grow for the future.

And farming and food are very much at the heart of all this.

And we need to look no further than the farm gate to gauge how this could work out.

The average farmer-age in Northern Ireland is far too high. The need to encourage more young people into the sector is a priority.

This was identified courtesy of the Land Mobility Programme. Under the previous outworking of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), specific support provision was made for young farmers.

Looking ahead, there seems to be little provision coming down the track to have these initiatives maintained, never mind built upon.

Losing either or both of these measures would be a retrograde step.

The last few years have seen the word ‘challenge’ brought into the myriad conversations that take place within the farming and food industries.

Climate change is a challenge: Brexit was – and remains – a challenge.

But what about taking the word challenge out of the lexicon of daily discussion and replacing it with the word ‘opportunity’.

Agriculture’s response to climate change will, undoubtedly, throw up many positive opportunities for the future.

Meanwhile, the need to deliver future food security for a growing world population will throw up lots of growth-related opportunities for our farming and food sectors.

Agriculture in Northern Ireland is already feeding the equivalent of 10 million people in countries around the world.

The prospect of developing all of this further is a very real one.

But we will need large numbers of highly trained young people to make this happen.

New agricultural degree course at QUB

The commitment of Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) to a new agricultural science degree marks a new phase in the provision of agricultural education in Northern Ireland.

The course will be delivered by QUB’s School for Biological Science with the first student intake scheduled for the start of the 2026/27 academic year.

At one level the new course re-establishes a clear commitment to the values of pure science underpinning a degree course in agriculture.

However, the launch of the new programme also marks the end the end of the ‘ag-tech’ degree, jointly delivered by QUB in association with the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE).

Professor Nigel Scollan is the Head of the School for Biological Sciences at QUB.

He commented: “The new degree course represents a direct response to agri-food stakeholder bodies for a course of this type.

“However, Queen’s University is not cutting links with CAFRTE. The every opposite is indeed the case as the provision of post graduate opportunities involving both institutions will be maintained.”

Meanwhile, 2025/26 represents the final year of student enrolment for the ag tech degree.

Nigel Scollan believes the launch of the new agricultural science degree course at QUB is perfectly timed given the many changes impacting on the farming and food sectors at the present time.

He said: “It is 20 years since the last new programmes were introduced into the School for Biological Sciences.

“And these are a direct result of discussions that have taken place involving representatives from QUB and stakeholders operating across the farming and food industry.

“It is the responsibility of a university to respond to need. Agricuture, food and veterinary are very big parts of our society.”

Professor Scollan continued: “The need for people who are trained and skilled in very advanced education has never been more relevant.

“The new programmes will allow our students enter into new research, government and communication pathways for the future.

“There are many different career pathways now opening up for our student graduates into the future.

He concluded: “It’s also important to emphasise that the School for Biological Sciences hosts the Institute for Global Food Security.

“In turn, the institute spreads out to other schools within Queen’s Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences and beyond.

“The end result is the provision of education, underpinned by cutting edge research.”

Veterinary Biosciences at QUB

Meanwhile, QUB has launched new graduate and post-graduate degree courses in veterinary biosciences.

The first tranche of undergraduate students will commence their studies at the beginning of the 2026/27 academic year.

Northern Ireland remains the only region of the UK without its own school of veterinary medicine. This is at a time when demand for veterinary surgeons has never been higher.

There is now speculation that the commitment to the new veterinary biosciences courses could pave the way for QUB committing to its own school of veterinary medicine at some stage in the future.

Professor Nikki Marks, from Queen’s School of Biological Sciences, commented: “There is a lot of discussion about the possibility of bringing a degree in veterinary medicine into Northern Ireland.

“And this is very much an issue for the future.”

Meanwhile, the new degree in veterinary biosciences will offer an accelerated course completion opportunities for graduates wishing to enrol in schools of veterinary medicine around the UK.

It is envisaged that the completion of the new graduate course at QUB could bring a standard five-year course in veterinary medicine down to four years.

Nikki Marks again: “Many of our modules will be fully compatible with those taught in schools of veterinary medicine.”

The new veterinary biosciences degree courses will be delivered to reflect the overarching principle – One World: One Health.

According to Professor Marks, animal health, human health and our environment are inextricably linked.

She added: “This reality will be a key driving force for the new degree programme.

“Farming and food combined represents Northern Ireland’s largest economic sector.

“Driving improved sustainability within the industry is crucially important.

“Our new graduates in veterinary biosciences will be specifically qualified to make this happen.

“Stakeholders within the farming and food sector want graduates with both strong theoretical and practical experience.

“The new courses have been developed with this core objective in mind.”

New technologies, including artificial intelligence, will be used to deliver the new courses.

Professor Marks envisages new drug development as being a key outcome of the new study and research programmes.

Meanwhile, a strong uptake for the new courses is envisaged.

Professor marks concluded: “We know this already, courtesy of survey work that has been carried out.”

It is envisaged that the new veterinary biosciences offered at QUB will prove equally attractive to students from Northern Ireland and further afield.”

Learning from other parts of the world

Here in Northern Ireland we rightly pride ourselves on the education-related and training opportunities made available to young students and farmers of all ages.

It’s a commitment that is fully echoed in Denmark, where agricultural education is regarded as an absolute priority.

This kicks-in at a number of levels, one being the requirement of Danish banks that they will only lend money to young farmers with a recognised agricultural qualification.

This entails the completion of an accredited college course, one that delivers at both an academic and skills’ level.

Agricultural students are also expected to spend time on a selection of Denmark’s top commercial farms. If they do not achieve this level of experience they will not secure the final qualifications and accreditation that they need.

Gråsten Agricultural College, located in Eastern Denmark, provides a range of courses to students from 16 to 20 years of age.

The campus boasts both excellent facilities and 100 years’ of delivering agricultural courses to the highest standards.

The college celebrated its centenary last year (2024).

It is home to 240 students. Agricultural education is free in Denmark.

However, students boarding at Gråsten make a contribution to the costs incurred in this regard.

Key to the evolution of Gråsten has been the commitment of its staff to deliver courses that reflect the needs of Danish agriculture in an evolving manner.

Today the principle of delivering future sustainability on individual farms is the overarching principle being addressed.

This subject is approached both in terms of food security and the carbon footprint of agriculture.

So for example, these issues are clearly reflected in the commitment to make the Gråsten campus totally energy self-sufficient by the end of this year.

And major steps along this road have already been taken.

The placement of solar panels on many of the college roofs and, the recent installation of a biogas plant means that the college can produce all of the electricity required from its own resources.

The feed stock for the biogas plant is the slurry generated by the college’s pig and dairy units.

Gråsten is home to a herd of 250 dairy cows and 350 breeding sows. Apart from the slurry, no other feed stock is required for the AD operation. A combined heat and power plant is included within the specification of the plant.

This represents a valuable source of electricity. Waste heat is pumped back into the college buildings.

The digestate is stored in a nearby aboveground store, from where it will be spread on adjacent arable land.

Plans are in place to have the college secure a net carbon zero position, where energy is concerned, with the next 24 months.

The big imponderable here is the fuel that will be required to drive the college’s tractor fleet.

One option here will be to use the biogas generated by the AD plant.

Another alternative will be to invest in new, electrically driven tractors.

But one can be pretty certain, even at this stage, that Gråsten staff will find a way to meet all their future sustainability-related objectives.