Derek Sands 24, from Tasmania, recommends that young would be farmers seeking a career in the rural industry to study towards a degree or diploma in agribusiness or farm management at Marcus Oldham College in Geelong, Victoria.
Derek’s main interest lies in the dairy industry, but he advises that whatever the field of speciality and agricultural background, a formal tertiary qualification in farming will help to reap employment and financial rewards.
Derek explains ”Marcus Oldham is a great place to get a formal qualification in agribusiness, farm business management or horse business management. I chose Marcus as it’s highly regarded, the courses are relevant to what is happening in modern farm businesses. Marcus graduates are in demand”
The agribusiness degree program covers a wide range of relevant units including:
- farm finance,
- marketing,
- information systems,
- business planning, and
- business law.
Advantages of studying at Marcus Oldham include learning from accessible lecturers that have extensive and relevant industry knowledge as well as small class sizes and interactive lectures.
Students of agribusiness, like Derek, also benefit from study tours in Victoria and the rest of Australia as well as to further afield destinations such as New Zealand, China and Hong Kong to learn from their farming practices and technologies.
Dr Livingstone, Principal at Marcus Oldham counsels that the new generation of agricultural and farm managers need to adopt current technology and be able to manage both people and risk.
He advises that by studying agribusiness to a tertiary level new farm managers will be able to develop skills in resource management as well as environmentally and economically sustainable farming and an understanding of the national and international business environment.