Precision Agriculture

The BSc (Hons) Precision Agriculture programme will prepare you to be a farmer or agricultural technologist of the future. You will gain the skills and knowledge required to develop and manage adaptable, innovative, sustainable and successful business ventures within the agriculture sector.

By studying a broad spectrum of modules, you will have the key attributes to go into higher level graduate roles, including the opportunity to tailor your learning to your career goals with option modules.

You will learn how to operate key software packages such as Farmplan, Gate Keeper and Livestock Manager, which is utilised within 80% of UK farming businesses in the UK, enabling them to evaluate farm data to reduce inputs and improve outputs on the farm, which is seen as a key outcome for any farm business manager.

Coures Aims

• Provide you with a sound academic understanding of the broad range of areas relating to global and regional crop and livestock production and the underpinning scientific, economic and business principles.

• Help you to develop your proactivity and independence, enabling you to apply and develop your own perspectives and explore alternative solutions within the dynamic agriculture sector.

• Develop your skills and knowledge to be an effective manager within agricultural and environmental businesses.

• Equip you with the vocational skills that are essential for entering a diverse range of employment opportunities within the global agriculture sector.

• Facilitate you into and through high level employment in agriculture and related sectors, including technological advances.

• Facilitate your development of transferable skills, allowing you to apply your knowledge and skills to the social and environmental context of agricultural management.

• Provide you with the skills to use, evaluate and implement new technologies within the agricultural sector.

• Ensure that you are empowered to make advancement in sustainably managing the environment through technological advances.

Learning and Teaching Approach
The programme is delivered with a variety of learning and teaching approaches. For all modules, there are theory lectures delivered, aimed to deliver the core content, provide the underpinning knowledge and facilitate further expansion of such concepts by the students, through independent study.

To complement the theory lectures, students have group seminars that are used to reinforce those concepts delivered theoretically. The seminars focus on delivering using a student-centred approach to enhance the independent learning that takes place outside of the classroom Practical sessions both at the Bishop Burton Farm are also incorporated into a range of modules on this programme making it extremely applied and prepares students effectively for the workplace. The academic curriculum provided by the programme is supported throughout by the extensive practical facilities offered at the college’s farm.

Contact Time
Contact time includes approximately 16 hours a week to include lectures, seminars, practicals and tutorials. Students are also expected to carry out a significant amount of independent study in addition to contact time (approximately 25-30 hours a week). Independent study includes reading around the subject, preparing for tutorials and seminars, preparing for, and completing, module assessments and revision; forming an essential part of a student’s learning journey.

Career Opportunities
Careers in farm management, machinery dealerships, as technology programmers and trainee agronomists.

What you will study

Year 1

• Academic, Employment and Professional Skills

• Fundamentals of Business

• Livestock Production

• Mechanisation

• Plant and Soil Science

• Crop Production

• Applied Precision Agriculture

• Introduction to Research Skills

Year 2

• Agriculture and the Environment

• Financial Management and Planning

• Enterprise and Entrepreneurship

• Research Methods and Analysis

• Option modules: You will either choose Precision Technology in the Wider Sector, and Agronomy; or

• Livestock Science, and Robotics & Automated Technology (Option modules will run where there are sufficient student numbers, otherwise an alternative option module may be offered.)

Year 3

• Dissertation

• Sustainable Food Production

• Rural Strategic Business Management

  Option modules: Advanced Agronomic Technology, Advanced Livestock Science, Rural Operations Management and Rural Marketing Management (Option modules will run where there are sufficient student numbers, otherwise an alternative option module may be offered.)

https://www.bishopburton.ac.uk/degree-level-courses