Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. I know that Mr. Pettit and his team head the educational sector in Teagasc. I studied horticulture under ACOT, the predecessor of Teagasc. That was a good while ago. I acknowledge the importance of Teagasc and its work on training. I will make a few comments and ask a few questions. On many occasions, we have discussed in this committee the question of what a farmer is. I am more interested in what is a trained farmer. Teagasc covers that in its prospectus. It talks about the national policy, which is the Government's priority, of training farmers for various farm incentives. One thing that occurred to me during the Covid-19 pandemic when many young people from transition year were out of school is that we never really got back to full education. There is an agricultural science module in the leaving certificate, yet we know that young people are hungry to learn, particularly if they live on farms. I believe there is a disconnect between the Department of Education and Teagasc, and I would like Mr. Pettit to comment on it. Many young people have said they would love to see a module of the GreenStart as part of transition year. They are young, keen and ambitious. They are working and living on the land, and they are potentially the successors to many farms and land. That is very important, because that is the way to go. We have students going on to do agriculture in the leaving certificate, but they know very little in terms of applied agriculture after that. There is a disconnect there.

I have looked at Teagasc's prospectus. As agriculture, horticulture and forestry have got more complex, the entry requirements for many Teagasc courses have gone up. It is very important we do not dissociate the practicalities of agriculture and require people to have a number of points from the leaving certificate examination to access courses. There is an important entry there, but there is a more important entry at another level. There are many young people who left school at 15 years of age and who are running massive farms in this country. They learned this trade from being a young lad on the farm. That is important.

Mr. Pettit might touch on how Teagasc is preparing its students and graduates for the challenges and expectations of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, because there will be educational standards feeding into that, which is important.

I will wrap up with a few points. The synergy I am talking about is the practicalities of a 50:50 in terms of practical applied agriculture, horticulture or forestry versus the academic, because that is important. How is Teagasc interacting with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in terms of farming apprenticeship, learning the trade with one's hands from the bottom up? What interested me more, and I could not get much information on this when I looked into Teagasc's work and reports, is how Teagasc is preparing people for agribusiness planning, financial management, governance and compliance. That is an important issue. How is it dealing with artisan foods? We know one will not make a full living from the farm so there is added diversification and all that goes with that. How about the issues of smart farming, position farming, central technology, automation and robotics? That is an entirely new area of learning for young farmers.

In terms of looking back on Teagasc's students and graduates, what analysis does it do of the students who come through Teagasc courses, a look-back graduate survey? What does that show? Are people staying in agriculture? Are they moving up the chain in terms of management in agriculture, forestry and horticulture? Where are they after going through some of Teagasc's courses?

Teagasc is a very positive organisation, but cautious. The one question I have today is about how we can prepare our new graduates and new students in respect of compliance, the environmental objectives and so forth, the issues with the new CAP and how we are facing them, and how we are dealing with technology in agriculture. The latter is very important. It is cutting edge stuff. In addition, we must not forget that there are young people who may never achieve a State examination, but who have a hunger and yearning for learning and practical knowledge. It is very important that we do not close the door in some way and tell them they do not qualify for entry into courses because they do not have X number of points. There are different levels.

Finally, and I will shut up after this point, I believe in apprenticeships and in learning the trade from the bottom up. I want to hear about how Teagasc is planning to conduct hands-on apprenticeship in farming.

I thank the witnesses again. As a student of horticulture, having known it, having mentored people in this area and still doing it, I believe it is very important that we draw on the uniqueness of individuals and enhance them to be our next generation of farmers.