Become an agricultural engineer and take the apprenticeship route to earn while you learn

Growing global populations and the ongoing requirement for modern and efficient food production methods mean a career in agriculture will always offer opportunities for talented individuals. Food poverty and continued food security are real global issues, and even the UK will need to address potential shortages and increase food production levels after exiting from the European Union. Around 50% of the UK's food is presently imported, with 30% of this shipped in from Europe and the remainder supplied by other countries (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/food-statistics-pocketbook-2017/food-statistics-in-your-pocket-2017-global-and-uk-supply).

All the above means developing a career in agriculture can offer a variety of national and international opportunities for suitably qualified and experienced job candidates. If you're considering an agricultural career but are unsure which direction to take, you might want to think about the benefits of opting to become an agricultural engineer?

Agricultural Recruitment Specialists are experts in sourcing the top flight farming and rural jobs of any kind. Our recent blog post on agricultural engineering careers and the ways these can lead to technological developments and advances across the entire agricultural sector offers you a good deal of insight into the role.

What do agricultural engineers do?

Agricultural engineers work with the machinery and equipment needed to provide efficient solutions for farming and growing. This may include machines for soil treatments and management, harvesting machinery or dairy and livestock machines and equipment. 

Agricultural engineers often work with farm managers and owners to determine the best crops to grow on different types of land and soil and can also get involved in providing the land drainage and irrigation solutions needed to ensure successful crop growth. 

This role can also entail developing new farm equipment and machinery, so it's important engineers have a good maths and science background. Strong analytical skills are essential for jobs of this nature and you can find out about the courses and degrees required for the role once you decide what pathway you want to take into agricultural engineering and where you want your career to progress (https://www.hotcoursesabroad.com/india/training-degrees/uk/agricultural-engineering-courses/loc/210/cgory/sk.5-4/sin/ct/programs.html). 

Top level agricultural engineers need to develop a wide range of solutions right across the sector and skills required include analytical expertise, creativity, good verbal and written communication and mechanical and operational knowledge. You could be involved within the food production sector or operating as an engineer on a working farm, entailing good engineering knowledge of a variety of different machines. No matter which area you work in, you will need to have the insight and detailed knowledge of growing, nurturing and planting to offer the highest levels of success in any kind of environment. This will also mean developing an understanding of the best machines that are most suited to growing in a range of climates and countries. Your role as an agricultural engineer could well entail developing the solutions required to meet growing and harvesting requirements in these vastly different global environments.

It's not always essential to have a degree to kick off a career in agriculture, and agricultural engineering in the UK is no exception. You might want to earn while you're learning and apprenticeships can offer you this opportunity. One recent approved provider of technical agricultural engineering education is the Coleg Cambria Llysfasi in Wales which has partnered with the AGCO dealership to offer a valuable apprenticeship training scheme to applicants based throughout the UK and in Eire. Details of this course are as follows:

One way to qualify as an agricultural engineer and earn while you learn

One way to qualify as an agricultural engineer is to team up with the Welsh Coleg Cambria Llysfasi approved training provider to achieve the technical training diploma for AGCO's Dealer Apprenticeship training scheme. This training scheme is available to applicants working in AGCO dealerships throughout the entire UK and Eire.

The Llysfasi AGCO Course Leader, Gareth Edwards comments: "We are very proud to have the opportunity to deliver the industry leading technical training diploma here at Llysfasi. For aspiring agricultural engineers this is a great opportunity to gain hands-on learning with specialist branded machinery by AGCO trained staff."

All trainers and lecturers on this valuable course possess the qualifications and motivational skills required to impart engineering excellence to a wide range of students. One major benefit of a course of this nature is that students can earn while they learn and also achieve relevant technical qualifications that will be invaluable for future agricultural engineering careers.

Students on the course come from all areas of the UK and engineering tutoring covers a comprehensive range of machinery. 

Anthony Linfield is the AGCO training development manager and says: "This is a real opportunity to gain a qualification with knowledge and skills at college with valuable hands-on experience in the workplace. Time served land based engineers that demonstrate high levels of expertise are a tremendous asset to all of us in the industry."

AGCO is a global organisation, so qualified agricultural engineers could build careers in a number of worldwide locations. The training offered by Coleg Cambria Llysfasi is provided in modern, purpose-built facilities and students undergo continuous assessment as they progress towards attaining this approved qualification.

Participating business organisations include Fendt, Massey Ferguson and Valtra dealerships in the UK and Eire and you can apply for a place on the course right now by emailing AGCO.training@cambria.ac.uk or speaking to your AGCO employer directly (https://www.cambria.ac.uk/apprenticeships/agco/).

Progressing your agricultural engineering career

Trained and qualified agricultural engineers can work in a wide variety of sectors in the industry. The specialist knowledge possessed by agricultural engineers can make it easy to move into different roles, such as sales and marketing. 

The consultants at Agricultural Recruitment Specialists have decades of experience placing agricultural engineers in some of the most prestigious global roles. We work with agricultural and food businesses offering global opportunities across a variety of agricultural engineering specialisms. Browse our current range of agricultural engineer jobs vacancies to get a feel for the types of roles available to qualified agricultural engineers (https://www.agrirs.co.uk/job-search) or get in touch to find out more. You can find all of our contact details on our website: www.agriRS.co.uk