“The Teagasc education review is moving along. We’ve done a lot of consultation, and we expect it to be complete by late spring 2017,” head of education in Teagasc, Tony Pettit told the Irish Farmers Journal. The review has involved meeting with farm organisations and around 200 people in focus groups as well as an extensive online consultation.

“We’re covering a number of bases,” Pettit said. “This is an improvement process, rather than changing the world. We have a wide range of diverse and opposing views, so we have to make sure each sector is represented and that we get a balance.”

The Irish Farmers Journal understands Teagasc is looking at ways to balance the workload better across the year by possibly changing the timing of holidays and the practical learning periods. The uneven annual workload is leading to staffing difficulties and physical resource shortages at certain times of the year.

Listen to an interview with Teagasc director Professor Gerry Boyle below:

Listen to "Discussing demand for Green Cert courses with Prof Gerry Boyle" on Spreaker.

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Listen: Teagasc income up €10m in line with increased activity