Diploma in Agribusiness

at Lakeland College - Vermilion Campus Canada

Our innovative program bridges agricultural and environmental science. As well, it merges the concerns of both the public and producers. Consumers want to know where and how their food is grown. Farmers and ranchers care about conservation and productivity.
 
Through the program, you’ll be at the forefront of best practices and certified production.

You’ll spend time in field labs honing skills related to:

• Soil science
• Water management
• Grasslands
• Livestock production
• Crop production

You’ll apply that soil, water and plant knowledge to create solutions for sustainable food production.You'll also learn through an industry practicum.

Your skill set will be sought after by:

• Producer associations
• Certified value chains
• Conservation groups
• Municipalities

Focus on the creatures that live in our forests, lakes, prairies, rivers and wetlands as you prepare to be an accredited wildlife and fisheries technician.

You’ll learn to identify-- by sight, sound or sign-- the smallest creatures in a pond to the largest animals on land. That means you’ll learn how to:

• Use spotting scopes and trail cameras
• Identify songbirds to owls, and frogs to toads by their calls
• Identify wildlife by tracks, scat, burrows, nests and chews

You’ll spend lots of time in the field learning and practicing applied skills such as electrofishing, GPS operation and live trapping. You’ll earn outdoor certificates including wilderness first aid, bear awareness, and quad/snowmobile/watercraft operation.

In class, you’ll learn about:

• Both animal and plant biology and ecology
• Conserving species-at-risk
• Protected areas, and conserving and enhancing habitat
• Game and harvest management
• Wildlife diseases

Launch your future in the livestock industry with Lakeland’s animal science livestock science major. You’ll gain a broad view of different sectors from both the production and business side.
 
Specialized livestock courses are also your student-managed team options. They are:

• Beef production
• Dairy production
• Sheep and goat production

In your first year,  you’ll choose either beef or dairy production. Which course you take determines one of your Student-Managed Farm powered by New Holland team options.  In second year you’ll take the other production course.

You’ll learn stockman’s practices as part of animal husbandry. Your courses will follow the production cycle from calving and lambing through to selling livestock. In addition to feeding, breeding and animal welfare, you’ll also study the livestock business. You’ll learn about key economics, business records and business plans.

Spend a year putting theory into practice and earn a general agricultural certificate.

Focus on either crop or livestock production. Whatever your choice, you’ll learn common skills for modern agricultural operations:

• Computer training
• Keeping accurate business records
• Using up-to-date technology for precision farming

Half of your time will be on college farm putting theory into practice. Our Student-Managed Farm – powered by New Holland includes:

• Beef and dairy herds
• Range land
• Crop land
• Facilities such as the [Dairy Learning Centre] and Agricultural Technology Centre

On the crop side you’ll learn practical field skills such as how to

• Identify weed and plants
• Assess pest problems

On the livestock side, develop basic production skills for dairy, cow-calf, and sheep.

You’ll likely want to stay another year. Earn a [crop technology] diploma or choose one of our animal science technology diploma majors.

Support school-aged children on their educational journeys.

In our educational assistant program, you’ll learn to work with children:

• With different abilities
• One-on-one and in small groups
• In a variety of settings

You’ll learn:

• Positive behaviour supports
• Human development
• Sensory development
• How to support students with exceptionalities

Put what you earn to practice with a 4-week practicum each semester.

You’ll graduate with the skills you need to find a career in:

• Before and after school care
• Kindergartens
• Recreation and community centres
• Elementary, middle and high schools
• Respite care for special needs children
• Classroom as a teaching assistant

• Take the next step in your environmental career with Lakeland's applied degree.
• Choose to major in either reclamation and remediation or monitoring and environmental protection. Get equipped to be a project manager, inspector, or specialist.
• Whether you come from a diploma or degree program, this applied degree will build on and add to your practical skills
• In the first year you’ll build advanced technical and field skills. You’ll also connect with industry on field trips.
• In the second year you’ll put your knowledge to work in an 8-month placement.
• You complete the program with a capstone presentation about your practicum.

Ecosystems and biodiversity are at the heart of conservation and restoration ecology (CARE).
The acronym fits. As a CARE graduate you’ll be making a difference for plants, soils, water and wildlife. Not just for now, but for future generations.

How you’ll do it is by learning practical field skills. Enough skills you'll be able to work in the field between 1st and 2nd year.
In second year, you’ll focus on best management practices and stewardship techniques. You’ll learn how to renew, restore and or conserve anything from grasslands to forest.

Field labs, outdoor classrooms, if where you practice [applied skills].  Some examples include:

• Identify critical habitat requirements for plants and animals
• Use environmental standards to classify wetland, forest and grassland
• Assess, inventory and map disturbed and undisturbed ecosystems
• Apply restoration techniques to real rural and urban landscapes
• Collect field data and report per industry standards

As a graduate you’re work-force ready. You also qualify for an Alberta Institute of Agrologists or the Alberta Society of Professional Biologists designations.

Environmental monitoring and protection emphasizes water quality protection, a growing area of employment and environmental concern.  You'll learn how to protect and sustainably manage both water and land resources through field procedures and best practices such as protecting surface water and riparian habitats. 

Whether on a field trip or in a lab, your hands-on training uses modern field equipment to learn how to do full environmental monitoring, field surveys and protection programs for water and soilsstudents measure water flow.  You’ll be job ready on two fronts: practical job skills and industry-required safety certification. That includes safe ATV and boat operation.

You’ll develop employable skills in environmental sampling, site assessment and waste management. They include:

• Surface water, ground water, air, vegetation and soil monitoring & sampling techniques
• Field techniques in biomonitoring and habitat assessment
• Phase I and II site assessments in upstream oil and gas, commercial and industrial settings

Combine your love of the outdoors with employable skills from Lakeland’s Applied Environmental Sciences major.

You now have 2 options:
Take the first year courses and earn a certificate or move into the 2nd year of the applied environmental major, or another of our environmental sciences majors.
 
You’ll start by learning a wide range of environmental concepts related to water, soil and plants. You start in the classroom, but you’ll be in outdoor labs within your first month.
Your training is fun, hands-on and useful. You'll apply and practice what you’ve learned using real-life situations. These are the same skills you’ll use throughout your career; skills that employers will notice. They include:

• Aquatic habitat assessments
• Wetlands & soil classification
• Water monitoring and sampling
• Environmental site assessment
• Plant identification

As you work towards your one-year certificate or two-year diploma, you’ll learn about:

• Human development
• Health, safety and nutrition to support child development
• How to create a creative and developmentally-appropriate curriculum and design a safe and inviting space for children
• How to support children with exceptionalities
• The business side of running a childcare practice.

Each semester has a practicum. Your third practicum is unique to Lakeland. You and your classmates will set up and run a play program. Together, you’ll:

• Create a parent handbook
• Plan the activities, snacks and schedule
• Create a dynamic theme for the space
• Put your theory into practice