There's no sag in Ag

You don't need to own a pair of wellies and a tractor to apply. UCD's agriculture faculty is attracting increasing numbers of urban students in recent years. More than half of the students are now from non-farm backgrounds and 40 per cent are women. One-fifth of the students attended second-level schools in the Dublin area.

And there's more to agriculture than meets the eye. The faculty of agriculture in UCD offers nine specialisms under the umbrella of its bachelor of agricultural science programme. Students take a common first year and then go on to specialise in animal and crop production, animal science, agribusiness and rural development, agricultural and environmental science, food science, engineering technology, commercial horticulture, landscape horticulture or forestry.

The youngest of these disciplines is environmental resource management. One of the unforeseen results of the maximisation of production, under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, was the extensive pollution of water due to the increased use of fertilisers and silage-making, explains college lecturer Dr John Feehan. There was also a drastic reduction in natural habitat, particularly in Northern Europe.

"It was realised that this was too much of a price to pay in terms of health, environment and rural landscape," he says. "It was also of increasing concern to the voting public not just to those who managed the land." Taking more care of the countryside means bringing new skills into agriculture. A number of policies, legislation and incentives are in place at present to persuade farmers to adopt more environmentally friendly strategies.

Students who want to specialise in environmental resource management must first take two years of a common core course in agriculture. "This is a very important consideration," says Feehan. "It would be too easy to bring in ecologists who have no idea of the pressures behind rural resource management. It's also very important to realise that we are at the beginning of something." Concern about the environment and the extent to which programmes and resources are channelled into this can only increase, he believes. Students who specialise in the more traditional discipline of animal science will be involved in areas such as meat production, milk production, animal breeding and genetics. Professor Maurice Boland stresses that this is not a practical farming programme. Quite a lot of science is involved.

Animal husbandry includes the various components affecting beef, dairy and pig production, according to Boland. Animal welfare and behaviour are important particularly with changes in EU regulations regarding animal housing etc.

In third year, students finish classes at Christmas and they spend from Easter to the summer gaining professional work experience in areas such as farming, dairy processing and the food industry. Students from urban backgrounds do remarkably well in the course but they may have to work a little harder when it comes to the practical elements, comments Boland.

Many students will undertake post-graduate studies; some will find work in Teagasc managing Rural Environmental Programmes (REPs), while others will find work in animal production or food processing industries.

Students not attracted by the idea of animal production may find the leafy avenue of horticulture more to their taste. Commercial horticulture students are trained to manage operations both nationally and internationally, says lecturer Dr Owen Doyle.

This involves the production, storage and marketing of food crops such as mushrooms, potatoes and apples. They may also be involved with non-food crops such as cut flowers, trees and shrubs. Doyle encourages students to go abroad on their six-month work placement between third year and fourth year.

Second-level students may have the image of agriculture graduates driving tractors and ploughing fields but the reality is that most will find work as managers, says Doyle. As to job prospects, there were more jobs than graduates this year and the situation was similar for graduates of the landscape horticulture programme. Students who specialise in landscape horticulture are trained to manage design, maintenance and construction programme.

Horticulture graduates have a portfolio of transferable skills and they may end up in non-horticulture areas, adds Doyle.

In addition to its nine undergraduate specialisms, the faculty offers a wide range of post-graduate options including equine studies, humanitarian assistance, landscape architecture and plant protection.

The good news, for second-level students interested in studying agriculture in UCD, is that 20 new first-year places were created this year. The cut-off points were 380* - the asterix means that random selection applied and not all students at this points level were offered a place. Of course, this year's points are only a rough guide to what you might expect next year.