The AgriFood ATP is able to help fund your studies if you meet their eligibility criteria.

If you are a UK resident and are employed by a company that has an R&D or manufacturing presence in the UK agrifood sector*, you are likely to be eligible for a bursary to cover 100% of your course fee.

100% bursaries are available until the end of 2014 when the subsidy rate will fall to 75% until the end of 2015.

* The ‘agrifood sector’ is defined as ‘an enterprise engaged in and/or providing services to businesses in agriculture, the manufacture of farm machinery and equipment, the processing of food and drink and the wholesale and retail activities associated with food and drink.’

To be eligible for a bursary, you must work for more than 7 hours per week in an organisation that has a site in the United Kingdom and that meets the above criteria.

Time is running out for farmers, advisers and other allied professionals to make use of a £250,000 funding pot for training schemes.

The funding is via the AgriFood Advanced Training Partnership. But it is the last year that this type of 100% bursary is available, according to partnership manager Deborah Kendale.

“We have at least £250,000 to allocate, which would allow 200 to 300 people to benefit, depending on the length of course taken,” Ms Kendale said.

A one-week course costs £1,400, while day courses cost £350. Anyone in paid work for more than seven hours a week in an agrifood-related business can apply.

Since January 2012, the partnership has awarded nearly £600,000 in part-time training. It has provided more than 400 people from across the UK with a range of training, from one-day soil and water workshops to in-depth crop protection courses.

But in 2015, funding will drop to 75% for UK-based agrifood professionals looking for a short course or a part-time postgraduate qualification.

Interest on many courses has been high, particularly on our Potato Production and Management course based at Harper Adams, Ms Kendale said.

The partners delivering the courses are the University of Nottingham, Cranfield University, Harper Adams University and Rothamsted Research and training is at an advanced level. However it is not necessary to have studied a degree to attend a short course or one or more workshops.

Course bursaries are provided by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and have enabled delegates from all backgrounds and industries from family run farms right up to multinational companies such as Agrii and Frontier to take part.

[AgriFood & Farmers Weekly]