‘Stagnating with no really good quality courses and little of use’
Last updated at 09:36, Friday, 13 June 2008
Newton Rigg is letting Cumbria’s farmers down and forcing them to find an education elsewhere, according to the county’s Young Farmers’ leader.
Graham Holliday says there are not enough practical agricultural courses on offer at the Penrith campus of the University of Cumbria.
He said he personally knows no young Cumbrian farmers who are studying or planning to study at Newton Rigg.
Newton Rigg suffered from a lack of investment over the past few years under the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) ownership.
Its dairy herd was scrapped because the university would not invest £500,000 in a new milking parlour.
But faculty dean Eunice Simmons has defended her college, saying there is new investment and new courses on the horizon.
Mr Holliday, who is chairman of Cumbria Young Farmers, said: “Newton Rigg has been stagnating. There are no really good quality agricultural courses.
“There is very little of use at Newton Rigg. If there were, I think more young farmers from Cumbria would go and study there.
“At Newton Rigg, there used to be more practical things on offer.”
He wants to see more training opportunities created in the county to encourage youngsters to stay in the industry.
He added: “I personally don’t know anyone who goes to Newton Rigg. They are doing the best job they can but most young farmers are going to college outside the county.
“The farm has to be the centre piece of the college, it is where people need to study hands on.”
Cumbria’s farming population is ageing as fewer young people are following their parents into the industry.
Mr Holliday said that at a young farmers’ meeting this week, just three out of the 25 members present were full-time farmers. He believes improvements to in-county training are key to keeping youngsters in the industry.
Ms Simmons said this is happening: “The university has already begun to address the historic under-investment, for example by funding improvements to the crop storage facilities and designs for new cattle housing.
“There is an ambitious programme of investment for the next five years to give Cumbria a specialist land management centre which can test new ideas and help address economic, societal and scientific challenges which are particularly significant in rural areas. In land-based subjects we are developing new curriculum at FE and HE level and in the workplace – including a new degree in integrated land management from September.”
Other new courses this year include a top-up BSc in farm management and diversification and an MSc in sustainable uplands.
Ms Simmons added: “The divisional leader Colin Blanchard is also developing specific new skills courses with the Cumbria Farmer Network which will be very appropriate to those wanting short, technical courses, up-skilling or entering agriculture for the first time.”
First published at 05:31, Friday, 13 June 2008
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk
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