The growth and interest in Ireland’s agricultural industry is thriving. Popularity of careers and the numbers of applicants in agriculture, horticulture and food courses have in the main increased across the board. Applications have increased by just under 25 per cent since 2008, according to the Central Applications Office (CAO) this morning.

Agri courses in the whole have increased in Dublin’s Institute of Technology and institute of technologies across Ireland. All agri courses in University College Dublin have noted a big surge in popularity, with its Dairy Business degree now 445 points. And forestry is also on the up. Very popular too  is veterinary nursing across the board and culinary arts and food science. Also noted was a slight drop in horticulture in some third-level institutions.

Below is a snapshot of just how popular and thriving Irish third-level agriculture is.

College               course                                                    2013/2012 points

Athlone IT AL 839 Human and Animal Toxicology 275/ 275 Athlone IT AL 731 Veterinary Nursing 435/405 Carlow IT CW168 Environmental Science 390/ 320 Cork IT CR 365 Environmental Science and Sustainable Technology 300/310 Cork IT CR 510 Sustainable Energy 305/300 University College Cork CK 505 Food Science 400/405 Dublin City University DC 170 Horticulture 350/380 Dublin Institute of Technology DT 416 Culinary Entrepreneurship 350/355 Dublin Institute of Technology DT Food Innovation 390/380 IT Blanchardstown BN 113 Horticulture 215/225 Trinity College Dublin TR 077 Earth Science 490/490 University College Dublin DN 250 Agricultural Science 455/450 University College Dublin DN 251 Animal Science – Equine 445/440 University College Dublin DN 252 Dairy Business 445/430 University College Dublin DN 261 Food Science 470/455 University College Dublin DN 471 Forestry 385/350 University College Dublin DN 272 Horticulture Landscape 325/3335 Galway /Mayo IT GA 780 Applied Freshwater and Marine Biology 370/375 NUI /Galway GY Earth and Ocean Science GY 314 380/380 Limerick IT LG Environmental and Natural Resource Management (Thurles) LD 408 275/270 University of Limerick LM 069 Food Science and Health LM 375/390 St Angela’s – Sligo AS 051 Food and Business Management 220/270 Galway –Mayo IT GA 172 Rural Enterprise and Agri –Business (Year 1 at Mountbellew) Galway –Mayo IT GA 301 Culinary Arts 160/200 Galway –Mayo IT GA 777 Agriculture & Environmental 300/350 Letterkenny IT LY317 Culinary Arts at Letterkenny 145/150 Letterkenny IT LY 346 Culinary Arts at Killybegs AQA Letterkenny IT LY 826 Applied Agriculture 220 Limerick IT LC 284 Agricultural Mechanisation Silesian Agri College Pulaski 315/325 Limerick IT LC 298 Culinary Arts 320/315 IT Tralee TL 620 Calvary Arts 135/130 IT Tralee TL 719 Culinary Arts 250 IT Tralee TL 744 Agriculture Engineering 240/230 IT Tralee TL 748 Agricultural Science 300/305 IT Tralee TL 749 Food Science and Innovation 305 Waterford IT WD 076 Forestry 280/270 Waterford IT WD 079 Agricultural Science 410/390 Waterford IT WD 096 Horticulture (Waterford) 220/215 Waterford IT WD 097 Horticulture (Dublin- Botanic Gardens) 205/210 Waterford IT WD 164 Food Science with Business 255/245 Waterford IT WD Culinary Arts 220/210