Farm families up and down the country will have received Leaving Cert results this week. Congratulations to all those who achieved the points to progress in their chosen careers. Those left disappointed should not allow the result to derail their career aspirations – it is merely a setback. While repeating the Leaving Certificate is an option, so too is embarking on Level 5 and 6 courses with the aim of stepping up to a Level 7 or 8 degree. Certainly in the case of agriculture these lower-level courses have the potential to provide a good foundation to completing a degree course.

With the economy recovering, there is a talent battle taking place across all sectors. Agriculture is not immune and must be prepared to fight to attract high-calibre students. Nevertheless, we have seen the number of students putting agriculture and horticulture courses down as their first choice falling by almost 30% compared to last year.

Interestingly a survey carried out by the Higher Education Authority on the class of 2014 showed 70% of agricultural and veterinary graduates employed nine months after graduating – compared to 58% across all graduates. It also showed just 8% of these graduates earning less than €21,000 compared to 11% in computers and science, 29% in science and maths and 59% in arts and humanities. Clearly there is a very positive message around a career in the agriculture and the agri food sector. We need to work harder as an industry to communicate it in colleges.

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