Advanced Certificate in Agribusiness

Core studies cover farm management, agricultural marketing, financial management, bookkeeping and entrepreneurship, finishing with an Industry Project applying your learning to a real agribusiness situation. Electives let you add depth in areas such as livestock, irrigation, sustainable agriculture or strategic management, depending on the kind of enterprise you're aiming to run. Suitable for farmers and those planning to manage or grow an agricultural business.

Learn about the Business of Agriculture Be prepared for the future. Farmers today need to do more than just producing grow crops or livestock. Today's farming is a market driven business. Competitors can come from all around the world, and conditions in the market place can change anytime without warning. Farmers need to be entrepreneurial, risk managers, financial managers and innovators with a constant awareness of trends and developments in their industry and a preparedness to adapt and change quickly to meet any challenges that arise. Learn to make better decisions, and more informed choices about what to do and how to do it in the business of agriculture. Compulsory Modules These six compulsory modules provide foundation knowledge for this Advanced Certificate in Agribusiness. Farm Management BAG104 Entrepreneurship BBS204 Agricultural Marketing BAG304 Bookkeeping Foundations BBS103 Financial (Money) Management BBS104 Research Project I BGN102 Elective Modules In addition to the core modules, students study any 3 from the following modules. We advise you to choose modules that will most broaden and deepen your knowledge and awareness of agricultural prospects in the region that you live. These modules don't need to be chosen until after you complete the compulsory modules, and in many ways you are best to wait until that point in time before choosing your electives. Industry Project BIP000 Industry Project II BIP001 Animal Anatomy And Physiology (Animal Husbandry I ) BAG101 Animal Health Care VAG100 Ecotour Management BTR101 Permaculture II (Plants for Permaculture) VSS105 Permaculture III (Animals) VSS106 Sales Management BBS102 Soil Management (Agriculture) BAG103 Supervision VBS104 Workshop I BGN103 Animal Feed & Nutrition (Animal Husbandry III) BAG202 Aquaculture BAG211 Beef Cattle BAG206 Bookkeeping Applications (Bookkeeping II) BBS203 Calf Rearing BAG207 Cut Flower Production BHT221 Dairy Cattle BAG205 Engineering II - Engineering Applications BSC205 Genetics BSC207 Goat Production BAG223 Irrigation - Agricultural Irrigation BAG213 Mariculture - Marine Aquaculture BAG220 Pasture Management BAG212 Pigs BAG209 Poultry BAG208 Project Management BBS201 Sheep BAG210 Sustainable Agriculture BAG215 Trees For Rehabilitation (Landcare Reafforestation) BHT205 Viticulture BHT220 Weed Control BHT209 Agronomy BAG306 Agronomy II - Grains BAG309 Animal Breeding BAG301 Aquaponic Production BHT319 Food Processing and Technology BSS301 Irrigation Management BAG303 Organic Farming BAG305 Tissue Culture BHT306 Course Duration - 900 hours Farming today is more than just growing crops or livestock. To succeed, you need to learn to: grow the right produce at the right time; process it in a way that produces the most profitable product; manage your assets (land, people, money) in a sustainable way. Farms are diverse in size, how they are managed and what they produce. They might be producing meat, grain, wool, milk, vegetables, fruit, oils or something else. They may be producing more than one type of produce. To be a sustainable agribusiness they may need to have diversified production; particularly with the volatile nature of such factors as the weather and markets. Sometimes things are grown to reduce costs , rather than directly sell to someone else; for example hay or fodder crops grown by a dairy farmer to feed his herd in times of poor pasture. Alternatively, by having a milking house cow, or running a few head of beef for meat are simple ways of reducing farm costs. For many farm products, there are varying ways of producing the “final product” (i.e. different production systems). Meat or plants may be grown fast or slow (quality and tenderness of food may be affected by speed of growth) Most things (e.g. meat, fruit, wheat, etc.), can be grown in a natural situation with minimum human intervention; or a more unnatural situation, with greater human intervention. Produce may be grown on a small scale, or on a large scale Systems can be monocultures (producing one thing only) or polycultures (where different animals and plants are integrated so that different products are taken from the same enterprise). Some systems are more labour intensive; others (e.g. mechanised systems) may be more manageable Land-care considerations may restrict the systems available (e.g. to prevent land degradation, it may be necessary to use a particular type of system). Generally polycultures are less likely to cause land degradation. Varying Production Systems There are always lots of choices to be made about how to produce crops or livestock. The choices you may may be different according to not only what you grow, but the soil conditions, climate, cost of labour, cost of land, distance to market, cost of marketing, competition, and much more. This course will Raise Your Awareness of the Factors that Impact Agribusiness Improve your capacity to make better decisions about what to farm, how to farm it, how to market it and ultimately how to run a more profitable agribusiness - both as a farmer; or as a provider of goods and services to a farm. You can start the course at any time. If you have any questions or want help in choosing the right modules to suit your own career goals, please get in touch. You can phone us on (UK) 01384 442752, (International) +44 (0) 1384 442752, or submit your questions to our specialist Agriculture tutors.