Certificate in Current Agricultural Practices Essentials

at University of the Fraser Valley - Chilliwack Campus Canada

UFV offers the first year of the Bachelor of Applied Science (Engineering) degree program for students wishing to transfer to the University of British Columbia or the University of Victoria. Upon completion of the UFV program, students may be allowed to enter the second-year Engineering programs at UBC and UVic without any additional qualifying courses, providing they meet the entrance requirements for the program at these institutions.

Students transferring to UBC or UVic from the UFV program with the minimum required GPA may be admitted to the UBC/UVic second-year program. Once admitted, all students, regardless of their first-year institution, then compete for seats in different specialties based on their GPA; popular specialties have higher GPA requirements than the entrance GPA. UBC also allows admission from General Sciences, but may require a higher entrance GPA.

The UFV Field Vegetable Production Essentials certificate is comprised of 18 credits (6 three-credit courses) and is an excellent introduction to all aspects of field vegetable production.

Topics include

• Introduction to horticulture
• Horticulture skills and techniques for fall and winter
• Fundamentals of pest management
• Introduction to soils and soil fertility
• The science and practice of vegetable production

This certificate can easily ladder into a Horticulture Crop Production and Protection certificate program or Agriculture Technology diploma at UFV.

The Current Agricultural Practices Essentials certificate is an 18-credit, 6-course, post-credential certificate that helps meet the professional development needs of agriculturists who have either been away from agriculture for a while or who are recent Canadians with prior agriculture experience. In addition to updating your knowledge of Canadian agriculture, it is also a valuable opportunity to complete a practicum in a modern agriculture business.

UFV's Horticulture Crop Production and Protection certificate provides you with a solid foundation to prepare you to enter the horticulture industry. The program emphasizes principles and practices of horticultural crop production, protection, and maintenance that are in line with sustainability, food security, and environmentally responsible agricultural production techniques.

Topics include:

•     Introduction to agribusiness principles
•     Horticulture skills and techniques
•     Plant identification
•     Greenhouse production
•     Nursery production and propagation
•     Integrated pest diagnosis and treatment
•     Fruit and vegetable crop production
•     Soil analysis and fertility
•     Farm and safety equipment

As a student, you are actively involved in practical, hands-on activities in the Agriculture Technology department greenhouses and on the UFV campus.

The one-year Horticulture Crop Production and Protection certificate transfers completely to the two-year Agriculture Technology diploma, Horticulture Crop Production and Protection option. Some credits may also transfer to other two-year programs in horticulture. Qualifying students may also be eligible to receive the equivalent of Year I apprenticeship in production horticulture.

Students seeking practical training in livestock production can earn a Livestock Production certificate. The program introduces you to the latest practices in animal breeding, nutrition, and health, including:

• Pest biology and identification
• Health and nutrition of farm animals
• Equine production and management
• Management and production of beef, sheep, and goats or management and production of poultry and swine
• Farm and equipment safety
• Soils and soil fertility
• Ruminant animal health
• Forage crop production
• Dairy production and management

As part of the program, you also learn the fundamental business and writing skills required in the workplace.

UFV's two-year Aboriginal Culture and Language Support (ACLS) diploma is designed to provide you with the knowledge, skills, and perspectives required for employment as an Aboriginal support worker in both public or First Nation-operated band schools.

As an Aboriginal support worker, your unique understanding of — and sensitivity to — the values, beliefs, and needs of students' Indigenous communities and heritage, as well as the needs of the education system, makes you a valuable asset to the school in which you work.

As part of the program, you develop the skills necessary to help Aboriginal youth succeed. You get to:

• Learn Halq'eméylem, the language of the Stó:l? people
• Explore the culture and history the Stó:l? people
• Gain counseling skills
• Examine contemporary issues and policies in Indigenous education
• Learn to support learner development

In their first year, students complete the requirements of either the Horticulture Crop Production and Protection certificate or the Livestock Production certificate before going on to year two. All courses from these certificates apply to the diploma program.

In their second year, students develop additional expertise in their chosen area of practice, learn about sustainable holistic agricultural practices, and explore issues relating to on-farm food safety, quality, and security. Students also develop their writing, business, and marketing skills both by completing coursework and a hands-on enterprise project where they get to develop a business plan for an agricultural venture.

After students have gained two years of experience in the industry, they may wish to complete a Bachelor of Business Administration for Agriculture Management to learn the fundamentals of business management theories and practices and prepare to take up a leadership role in any agribusiness or agricultural agency.

If students have selected the Horticulture option, they may choose in their third semester to transfer their credits to the four-year Bachelor of Agricultural Science. Or students may finish their fourth semester to earn their Agriculture Technology diploma and enter the Bachelor of Agriculture Science in semester five, after they complete pre-requisite Biology and Statistics courses.

The Bachelor of Agricultural Science (BAS), Horticulture major emphasizes the academic study of the natural sciences in combination with an applied agriculture curriculum. The program will provide students with an understanding of science and the practical nature of large scale horticulture production. Breadth of knowledge will be enhanced by communication, business, and general elective courses related to agriculture in society, in addition to science and agriculture courses.

The BAS requires 125 credits. To receive a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree, students must complete an industry-based practicum (AGRI 192) and an applied research project (via a Capstone course) which provides graduates with practical experience with which to enter the workforce and face the challenges associated with the horticulture industry.

UFV’s Early Childhood Education (ECE) certificate program is an excellent foundation to purse a career working with young children.

Especially designed for students who are coming out of high school, and those already in the workforce the four-semester program takes you through basic courses in communication, interpersonal growth, human development, and the early childhood curriculum.

You explore the theories and current trends in physical, cognitive and psycho-social development, from conception to the age of eighteen. In addition, you are introduced to different recording techniques that have been developed from observing children’s social, play, language, motor, and cognitive development.

In the third and fourth semesters, you also complete a 200-hour introductory and a 200-hour advanced practicum where you put Early Childhood Education theories into practice, document your experience, and apply advanced competencies including parent interaction, self-evaluation, and peer evaluation.