Course summary

On the BSc (Hons) Agriculture course, there is an emphasis on agriculture and related food production and land-based industry enterprises. This three- year programme has been designed to equip students with technical and management skills to enter the agricultural supply chain. There is a focus on business productivity and sustainability, the global market, the supply chains it supports, agricultural management systems, enterprise development and entrepreneurship. The complexity of agricultural management is driven by many factors including global population growth, transforming economic and political circumstances, environmental change and rapid developments in technology. The need for well-trained and educated graduates in agriculture therefore continues to grow. This growth is not only reflected in the number of graduates required but also by the increasingly diverse range of careers available to them. The BSc/BSc (Hons) Agriculture provides students with the requisite academic grounding, together with the broader science, technical and management skills that are required to develop and build a career in the increasingly technical and continually changing global agricultural sector. The programme using underpinning science and theory, will develop technical and managerial skills, in livestock, crop production, the integration of the wide range agricultural production systems, environmental sustainability, rotations, equipment, housing and storage facilities that are used in the commercial industry. The uniqueness of the BSc/BSc (Hons) Agriculture lies in its flexibility which allows students to work within the agricultural industry to develop and apply their technical and managerial skills as they study. The online, in-industry and onsite approach to delivery adds to the flexibility allowing access from any location with content and support being available outside of this to fit into busy 24/7 lifestyles or busy times within the agricultural year. University Centre Askham Bryan has access to the 238-hectare Home Farm, which houses a milking herd of 200 cows, which are milked through a rapid exit parlour and a DeLaval Robot, a state-of-the-art high welfare precision beef facility in which students will actively participate in the use of the latest precision-livestock equipment, research, and industry engagement and a commercial flock of 200 breeding ewes. Crops grown on the grade 2 arable land, include wheat, sugar beet and maize, using the latest precision field technology and variable rate application techniques and software to maximise arable returns and the production of high-quality forage to improve the performance and returns of the dairy and livestock enterprises. The Farm also features a new £2.4 million Agri-Tech Innovation Centre dedicated to advanced agricultural and engineering training, the DeLaval Digital Farm and robotic milker which provides live data for analysis and interpretation of dairy cow performance. On-farm data from the different enterprises is also drawn together using the latest Map of Agriculture software to provide live updates on what is occurring on the farm, the level of inputs and physical performance of the different enterprises’ adding to the learning experience and knowledge of the students on the BSc/BSc Agriculture course.