Agriculture Extended Diploma Level 3

Please ensure your application includes correct contact information e.g. mobile number and personal email address.

You can apply for up to two courses (except A Level subjects where you must select a minimum of three).

You will only be invited to book an interview for your 1st choice course initially.

As a leading agriculture college, you will learn on our 160-hectare operational commercial farm, consisting of arable fields, grazing meadows and woodlands. With cattle and sheep on campus, you will gain hands on experience of farm management and animal husbandry.

This two-year course is made up of both the Level 3 Diploma and the Level 3 Extended Diploma in Agriculture. In your first year you will study topics such as crop production, health and safety, plant and soil science and land-based machinery operations. In the second year you will be able to specialise and choose the pathway you wish to study - either Arable or Livestock.

These routes will allow you to follow your passion and explore topics such as combinable crop production, spreaders and sprayers and root crop production within the arable specialism, or sheep production, beef production and forage crop production through the livestock specialism.

You will learn to operate the latest agricultural machinery, ensuring you are well-prepared for the demands of modern farming. Additionally, you will experience cutting-edge technology with spray drones for precision agriculture and tractor simulators for safe and effective machinery operation.

We have great links with the Food and Farming Discovery Trust and the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group, among others. We also provide enrichment opportunities alongside your course, including taking part in the Royal Norfolk Show and visiting the Lincolnshire Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Association (LAMMA) show.

You will be assessed through practical observation, examinations, synoptic assessment and written assignments throughout your course.

You will need to achieve four GCSEs at grade 4 or above, including English language and Maths.

On successful completion of the course, you could progress to study the next level at college, secure an Apprenticeship, explore degree-level courses in agriculture and agricultural management or move into employment.

After completing this course, you could go on to study a range of higher education options such as an Agriculture Foundation Degree, BSc (Hons) Agriculture, or specialised degrees like Agriculture with Animal Science, Business Studies, or Countryside Management. These courses can help you build deeper knowledge and open up exciting career paths in the agricultural industry.

Where Your Course Can Take You :-

This qualification will expose you to the whole industry, and the opportunities within it. On completion, you could enter the industry by working for a farm business, or as a farming contractor. As you will have gained a breadth and depth of skills and knowledge over a very wide range of units, you could progress within work to become a herdsperson, shepherd/ess, contractor (livestock) assistant poultry unit manager (livestock pathway) or contractor (crops), agricultural technician, fixed plant manager and sprayer operator (arable pathway).