Lethbridge College is pleased to announce that Alberta Advanced Education has granted its approval to the college’s Agriculture Business Risk Management (AgBRM) certificate program.
The program launched in the fall of 2015, and those completing the curriculum were initially awarded a credential of academic achievement from Lethbridge College. The provincial certificate approval provides a variety of benefits, including making students eligible for student loans, and enabling the college to explore transfer agreements with other post-secondary institutions.
“The approval is testament to the value Advanced Education sees in this program for students and industry,” says Dr. Edith Olson, interim Dean of the Centre for Applied Arts and Sciences. “The approval provides potential for AgBRM content to transfer to the University of Lethbridge as well as other post-secondary institutions.”
The AgBRM program is an industry-driven, modularized, fully-online course developed specifically for those in the agriculture industry. The curriculum was developed in conjunction with industry partners to meet the needs of working agriculture professionals. The program is the first initiative of the Cor Van Raay Southern Alberta Agribusiness program which was established in 2014 and is currently under development.
“We’ve seen the enrolment in the program growing since it launched,” says Lyndsay Smith, Lethbridge College’s agriculture industry liaison. “We met our enrolment targets for the September 2015 to June 2016 period and are on pace to meet them again through September and October of this year. The provincial approval should give us even more of a boost as the awareness of the program is raised among both students and industry.”
The program is made up of eight core courses and two capstone courses, each divided into modules that take one month to complete. Modules are offered each month, providing flexibility to students to complete the program at their own pace – whether it’s taking breaks around harvest season and adding more work during slower times of the year, or adapting the courses into their overall workload for current agriculture students.
"The AgBRM program provides you with great reading material, video clips and class discussion boards that make it very interactive with other students who are also in the Ag industry,” says Tanner Granberg, a current college AgBRM student. “The assignments that have been developed by people involved in industry are great, with hypothetical scenarios that challenge you."
The program is creating learning opportunities for students in advanced agribusiness practices that will enable them to transform, create and operate a diverse range of businesses in the agricultural industry.
“The Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association is delighted that the concept proposed to Lethbridge College on AgBRM has blossomed with the support of other industry partners and the investment made through the Cor Van Raay Southern Alberta Business Agribusiness program,” says Bryan Walton, CEO of the Alberta Cattle Feeders’ Association. “Providing educational opportunities in business risk management is assisting students and industry members more effectively meet today’s challenges, thus improving sustainability for cattle feeding and other agricultural sectors.”
Supporters of the program include program collaborator Alberta Cattle Feeders Association and program funder Alberta Livestock and Meat Agency, along with program partners Alberta Beef Producers, Alberta Barley, Alberta Canola Producers Commission, Alberta Pork, Alberta Wheat Commission and Agriculture Financial Service Corporation.
Through its highly-adaptable and collaborative learning environment and its future-focused training and research programs, Lethbridge College is fast becoming a hub for agricultural research and innovation. The college is a proven player in the industry, with faculty, staff and partners who are resourceful, understand farming, embrace innovation, focus on our vision and lead the way with data-driven agriculture.
The AgBRM program is just one of many major agriculture-related initiatives at the college, including the Cor Van Raay Southern Alberta Agribusiness program. This joint program is being developed by Lethbridge College and the University of Lethbridge and focuses on agriculture-related education opportunities in the areas of ag-economics, business development, entrepreneurship, finance, human resource management, commodity and futures trading, and general management and leadership with a focus on agricultural innovation.