Diploma in Agricultural Sustainability

at Lakeland College - Vermilion Campus Canada

• 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.

You’ll develop essential skills such as:  

• Observing, reporting and assessing skills in case management situations  
• Building therapeutic relationships  
• Helping children and youth who have behavioural or learning difficulties  
• Supporting family interventions  
• Recognizing symptoms of abuse & addiction  
• Building resiliency  
• Working with children and youth in diverse setting

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

Go beyond the classroom with our new post-bachelor commercial agriculture production certificate. This certificate is designed for ag degree holders who want to build their practical skills.

There’s no substitute for putting your knowledge into action. You’ll do that through hands-on learning with:

• Crops
• Livestock
• Equipment
• Technology

You'll boost both your real-world and critical-thinking skills by working and learning on our Student-Managed Farm - powered by New Holland/ It's Canada's only student-managed farm.
Choose a crops or livestock stream. No matter your choice, you’ll gain insight and experience about typical agricultural production in Western Canada. And, ultimately be better prepared for your career.

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

A computer lab with specialized design software is just for your program. So is a plotter, a sample room and a work room. All are available 24 hours a day.

Along your two-year college journey, you’ll develop practical skills such as drafting and rendering.
You’ll also learn:

• Design fundamentals
• History
• Space planning
• Materials
• Sustainable building practices
• Residential construction
• Finishes

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

Set your career in the dairy industry in motion with Lakeland’s new animal science technology major.

 Through our dairy science major you’ll learn specialized dairy management skills. You’ll study:

• Production
• Herd management
• Nutrition
• Farm management
• Sustainability

You’ll learn hands-on and through student-managed activities. Those activities range from practical herd management to implementing new technologies. Our Dairy Learning Centre will be central to many of your learning experiences. You’ll investigate current industry events and trends.
 
In your second year, you’ll be a member of the Student-Managed Farm (SMF) dairy unit. Or, you’ll do a student-led practicum. Whatever your choice, you’ll understand multiple aspects of how to manage a dairy farm. The range goes from herd health to supervising employees to business financials.
 
You’ll graduate armed with knowledge and tools to return to the farm or to make your mark in another area of the dairy sector.

Gain knowledge and skills through agronomy, production, precision farming and financial management classes.
Your learning isn’t confined to classrooms. You’ll learn in the field, by going to industry events and by hearing from local producers.
 
Your real world learning comes after your first year. You choose between:

• An industry practicum
• The Student-Managed Farm – Powered by New Holland

Whatever your choice, you’ll put theory into practice. You’ll have the chance to evaluate agronomic, marketing and financial decisions in real world situations.
As a crop technology graduate, you’re prepared to run your own farm or work in the retail agriculture sector.