I understand quotas are a thing of the past in terms of Irish agriculture, but recently I found myself wishing for such a limit when finalising my Leaving Certificate agricultural science project.

Although the topic in question is not to be corrected until spring 2016, I wanted to get it out of my hair before the hectic mock and oral preparation season is upon me. With that in mind (as well as the advice of my agricultural science teacher), I took the October mid-term to get the bulk of my material written, typed up, printed off, polly-pocketed and nicely sealed within a ring binding folder.

As it stands, the quantity vs quality quarrel is well under way. I’m reluctant to say that the quantity squad has the upper hand at the moment. They had the wind (my eagerness to get the project finished) and the referee (my sense of judgement) with them throughout the first half.

However, I’m determined to change this one-sided battle before the Christmas holidays. I have samples of meal (such as beef ration, grass seed and hay) oversizing my folder. I can definitely half my sample sizes and they will still serve their practical purpose. I also feel as though my farming selfies (or felfies, as one might say), are so regular that I might just cringe throughout my entire oral examination next spring.

Homing in on the family farm

When discussing matters with my agricultural science teacher Dr Eivers, she remarked upon the information within each class project that she has reviewed this year. A common feature was that students were focusing on farm life as a whole rather than the specific report that is needed on each of the farms that they are studying. This accurate observation sums up my work of pride and joy exactly.

So what’s my plan of action to amend my project’s problem? Taking each of my headings into consideration (for example livestock, grassland, spring barley), I need to alter my pieces of information to make each more specific to the farm that I’m studying, my family farm.

This may seem obvious to begin with, but I think it’s quite easy for a student to write about the pests that affect spring barley nationally, for example, rather than the exact ones that affected their farm throughout the 2014 or 2015 harvest season. Then again I may be of the wrong impression due to the Leaving Certificate bubble that I’m living in.

Nonetheless, I believe this “farming as a whole” factor is the reason for my project’s quantity quandary and therefore, amending my work is key on my quest for quality.

Una Sinnott is a 6th Year student in Coláiste Bhríde, Carnew, Co. Wicklow. Follow her on Twitter @UnaSinnott.