1 October 2020
Effective land management strategies are critically important to all farmers. Thanks to Farming Connect’s expanded range of fully funded e-learning courses you can acquire the knowledge you need from the comfort of your own home, at a level and pace which suits you.
Broadly categorised into the over-arching categories of ‘business’, ‘livestock’ and ‘land’, each online interactive training module – expect to take around 20 to 30 minutes to complete each one - will teach you the rudiments of what you need to know. With a simple quiz at the end of each course enabling you to assess what you have learnt, You will soon identify which areas you may need to revisit and can quickly get up to speed on a host of topics.
Within the ‘land’ management category, not only can you learn how to steer clear of breaching NVZ regulations, manage pesticides appropriately and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, you will find out how to farm ‘smarter’ in terms of reducing all agri-pollution, a major challenge facing all progressive farm businesses today.
Also available within this category are modules that will teach you what you need to know about slurry, silage and rainwater management; farm nutrient management and farmyard composting.
Rebecca Summons, Animal Health and Welfare and E-learning manager with Lantra Wales, which together with Menter a Busnes, delivers Farming Connect on behalf of the Welsh Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development, explains that e-learning can provide you with the necessary information and guidance to put in place optimum systems and procedures.
“If you are interested in running your business at peak performance levels across all levels of working, which in turn should lead to increased profits, then e-learning will provide you with the knowledge you need.
“Farming Connect’s recently expanded range of fully funded e-learning courses will help you get to grips with a very comprehensive range of topics and issues that could be preventing your farm from operating at peak performance levels,” said Ms. Summons.
Ms Summons emphasised how easy and cost-effective it can be to implement systems that will help you get the best results across a wide spectrum of topics ranging from land management and animal health to business, financial and marketing.
Described as ‘bite-sized’, each interactive module can be repeated until you are confident you have all the facts you need at your fingertips. For a brief overview of what topics are available and what is covered within each, click here.
To access all e-learning courses, you will need to have registered your individual email address with Farming Connect and logged into BOSS (the Business Online Support Service) via Sign On Cymru. You are then ready to select the e-learning module(s) you require. If you need help with any part of this process, you can contact your local development officer or the Farming Connect Service Centre.
At the end of every completed e-learning course, a ‘Certificate of completion’ will be uploaded to your personal online Storfa Sgiliau continuous professional development record on your behalf.
Farming Connect, which is delivered by Menter a Busnes and Lantra, has received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities - Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the Welsh Government.