Agriculture Technology diploma

FEATURES:

• Field trips enhance classroom learning
• Practicum provides work experience and industry contacts
• Hands-on learning at the UFV Agriculture Centre, which is equipped with the latest agricultural technology
• Program eligible for financial aid

In your first year, you get to complete the requirements of either the Horticulture Crop Production and Protection certificate or the Livestock Production certificate before going on to year two. All courses from these certificates apply to the diploma program.

In your second year, you develop additional expertise in your chosen area of practice, learn about sustainable holistic agricultural practices, and explore issues relating to on-farm food safety, quality, and security. You also develop your writing, business, and marketing skills both by completing coursework and a hands-on enterprise project where you get to develop a business plan for an agricultural venture.

Topics include:

• Fruit/vegetable crop production (if your chose the Horticulture option)
• Livestock management and production (if you chose the Livestock option)
• Sustainable soil management
• Professional report writing
• Principles of microeconomics
• Field techniques in pest management
• On-farm food safety, quality, and security
• Essentials of marketing

A final practicum provides you with the opportunity to gain work experience.

After you have gained two years of experience in the industry, you may wish to complete a Bachelor of Business Administration for Agriculture Management to learn the fundamentals of business management theories and practices and prepare to take up a leadership role in any agribusiness or agricultural agency.

If you've selected the Horticulture option, you may choose in your third semester to transfer your credits to the four-year Bachelor of Agricultural Science. Or you may finish your fourth semester to earn your Agriculture Technology diploma and enter the Bachelor of Agriculture Science in semester five, after you complete pre-requisite Biology and Statistics courses.

Horticulture job opportunities include:

greenhouses/field production, nurseries, pest management companies, landscaping companies, city parks, agri-service companies or technicians with various levels of government. 

Livestock job opportunities include: 

farm managers or owner/operators, dairy herdspersons, ranch hands, agri-service companies, poultry producers, government livestock and forage technicians and artificial insemination specialists.

Agriculture Technology diploma entrance requirements