Are you interested in expanding your knowledge and experience within the food and agricultural sector? If so, then maybe one of the modules within the Bioinnovation Wales programme could be for you. The Bioinnovation Wales partnership is part of the Welsh Government’s push for skills for growth and is intended to build on the strong agricultural and food sectors. Aberystwyth University are offering a fee waiver on the Bioinnovation course modules until September 2021.
Jodie and Helen have started the module – Controlled Environment Agriculture and it has just reached the 5th week – covering plant biology. Expanding on memories of GCSE and A level biology giving useful and practical examples. The natural world is truly fascinating, and this section of the module allows time to properly consider both the complexity and the simplicity of plants. The distance learning allows you to fit the course around your own commitments but challenges and adds to your knowledge. It is quite exciting to learn about the effects of certain minerals on the growth of plants and the effect of light and other factors such as uptake of Carbon Dioxide. The exciting opportunity with Controlled Environment Agriculture is that you can literally control inputs and really manipulate the growth to serve your desired outcomes whether that is taste, size, colour, texture and so on.
Watch this space next spring when Baileys and Partners embrace the Controlled Environment Agriculture World and take on a vertical farming unit loaned from Tech Tyfu. We plan to produce tasty food at a reasonable cost, across a longer growing season and with a low carbon and water footprint. We will be growing in a traditional barn at Tyddyn Du. Welsh farms often have traditional buildings which are no longer in productive use – could a few vertical farming units be the answer for a diversification income supplying a local market? Baileys and Partners will find out! If vertical farming or indoor growing is not something you would consider be assured that the course will still be of interest – it would challenge your thinking about outdoor growing in relation to inputs, choice of crop, plus greater understanding of your inputs and outputs.
If you would like to have a chat to either Jodie or Helen about the controlled environment agriculture courses they are completing, their vertical farming venture or future diversification opportunities then please give us a call on 01341 241700 or email: enquiries@baileysandpartners.co.uk
