£1 million for Aberdeen Agricultural Education
Professor Wayne Powell (SRUC) and Andrew Connon (NFUS) break ground on the new site with NC agricultural students.
Nearly £1 million is being invested in agricultural teaching facilities, in Aberdeen.
The new facilities at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Craibstone Campus will help promote skills and knowledge to support the agricultural industry across the region.
More than £900,000 will be used to create a new engineering workshop and demonstration areas for farm machinery, while a new livestock shed, and animal handling equipment will also be put in place. In addition, the site will see a new car park, new storage areas for farming and demonstration equipment as well as improved road access.
The investment in SRUC’s Tulloch Farm - part of its Craibstone campus - comes after £50,000 was spent earlier this year to create new student welfare and small group teaching facilities. The work will be completed in phases, with the project set to be finished by the end of 2022.
On the organic-certified farm, this year students are helping to manage 400 sheep, 100 finishing cattle of mixed breeding, and cereals.
Students use the farm to gain qualifications from National Certificates through to MSc degree-level qualifications. The facilities will also be used to support continued professional development.
Professor Wayne Powell, Principal and Chief Executive of SRUC, said: “Helping to prepare agricultural students with the skills and knowledge to move with the times and take advantage of new opportunities has been and always will be an important part of what we do at SRUC. This is not just an investment in buildings, but an investment in the food producers of tomorrow who will be at the vanguard of addressing climate change and biodiversity loss through adoption and deployment of new innovative technologies and land use practices.”
NFU Scotland Vice President Andrew Connon said: “For many years, Craibstone has been a hugely important agricultural education facility. The nationwide delegation of members from NFU Scotland that met with SRUC on site at Craibstone this week (Thursday 4 November) welcomed the opportunity to hear first-hand about the much-needed investment.
“The North East of Scotland is the power house of Scottish agriculture and the farming community throughout Scotland is desperate to see improvements and further development of agricultural education facilities in the region to support all sectors during this period of great change in the industry.”
The investment in Tulloch Farm is the latest in a series of investments being made at SRUC’s Craibstone campus over the next year. Other announced projects include a veterinary clinical skills hub, new equine facilities, and improvements to the student experience across the campus. The site will support the development of a new tertiary school of veterinary medicine being established by SRUC.
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Posted by SRUC on 05/11/2021
