Agri Skills Transfer is expanding its 2027 intake with new student residential facilities, a guaranteed second-year farm placement, and specialised short courses. The institution equips students with hands-on agricultural experience, commercial industry exposure, and key technical skills for a successful farming career.
For students considering a career in agriculture, the question is no longer simply where to study. It is where to gain the practical experience, industry exposure and skills needed to make a meaningful contribution to South Africa’s agricultural sector.
At Agri Skills Transfer, the answer is increasingly found where the theory meets the soil.
As the institution prepares for its 2027 intake, it is expanding its programmes, facilities and industry partnerships, with a clear focus on producing graduates who understand agriculture not only as a subject, but as a production system and a business.
Based in Groenkloof, Pretoria, with its practical training environment at the Cullinan Farm Training Centre, Agri Skills Transfer offers national diploma programmes in animal production and plant production. Students are exposed to practical farming activities alongside their academic studies, giving them an opportunity to see how production decisions work in real agricultural environments.
Building for the future
A major development ahead of the 2027 academic year is the institution’s new building and residential facilities. The development is intended to strengthen the learning environment for students who require accommodation while completing their agricultural studies.
The institution is also expanding its occupational training offering with a new QCTO higher occupational certificate in mixed crop and livestock farming at NQF Level 5.
The programme reflects the realities of South African agriculture, where successful farming increasingly requires an understanding of both crop and livestock production, resource management and the integration of different enterprises.
Another addition to the institution’s programme portfolio is game and wildlife management, opening a pathway for students interested in South Africa’s growing game-farming and wildlife sector.
“The future of agriculture belongs to people who can combine knowledge with practical ability and understand the realities of production,” says Laurika du Bois, marketing and communication manager at Agri Skills Transfer.
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From the classroom to commercial agriculture
For students entering the national diploma programmes in animal and plant production, practical exposure is becoming an increasingly important part of the learning journey.
Agri Skills Transfer is introducing a placement guarantee for second-year students, supported by agreements and contracts with farms prepared to host students for relevant workplace exposure.
The objective is to place students in environments where they can gain meaningful industry experience related to their studies. For students, this creates an opportunity to build practical competence, professional networks and a better understanding of the expectations of employers and commercial farming operations.
A practical farm that functions as a learning laboratory
One advantage of practical agricultural education is learning from projects as they happen.
At the Cullinan training farm, students are exposed to crop-production activities, including maize and open-field planting, providing an opportunity to observe production from preparation and planting through to crop development.
Livestock activities similarly provide opportunities to explore production systems and emerging practices. Agri Skills Transfer works with industry partners including Dan Bred in pig production and Design Biologix in beef cattle and dairy, while building relationships with organisations such as PICRSA and Bierman Poultry.
These relationships bring an important dimension to agricultural education: students can see how technology, genetics, production systems and specialist knowledge are applied beyond the classroom.
An industry gathering at the Mega Open Day
The institution will showcase its programmes, facilities and practical approach at its Mega Open Day on Saturday, 10 October 2026.
The event will bring prospective students and their parents to the campus and farm environment to experience the institution first-hand. Industry partners and members of the media will also attend, creating an opportunity to demonstrate the growing network connecting Agri Skills Transfer with the agricultural sector.
For prospective students, the open day is about more than choosing a qualification. It is an opportunity to see where the qualification can take them.
Agriculture as a career
South Africa needs a new generation of agricultural professionals who understand production, technology, business and the changing demands of the sector.
Agri Skills Transfer’s 2027 offering is built around that principle: learn the theory, experience the practical, connect with industry and develop the confidence to build a future in agriculture.
More than a qualification – a complete agricultural experience
For 2027, students joining Agri Skills Transfer receive far more than a qualification. The offering is designed as a complete practical agricultural learning experience, with equipment, clothing, accommodation, meals, practical exposure and additional industry opportunities as part of the student journey.
Students receive a PPE set consisting of a branded jacket and trousers, safety boots, gumboots, a field hat, safety goggles, gloves and dust masks, ensuring that they are equipped for practical work on the farm. Students will also receive an official branded field shirt for Nampo and other industry events, as well as three branded work shirts for practical training.
The package includes all course material and practical learning opportunities, supported by guest lecturers who bring additional industry knowledge and experience into the classroom.
Students will also receive a toolbox with essential farm tools required for their practical training, allowing them to develop hands-on skills using the equipment they will encounter in agricultural working environments.
Residential students will live in dormitory-style accommodation with en-suite facilities and a kitchenette, with Wi-Fi, laundry facilities and meals provided from Monday to Sunday. This creates an environment where students can focus on their studies while experiencing the discipline, independence and community that come with residential agricultural training.
The 2027 package also includes short courses to the value of more than R40 000, together with the new game and wildlife management course, allowing students to broaden their skills beyond their core qualification.
Importantly, second-year national diploma students will have access to a guaranteed practical placement in the agricultural industry, through farms with which Agri Skills Transfer has agreements and contracts. This allows students to gain relevant workplace experience and exposure to commercial farming practices before completing their studies.
Students will also participate in Nampo visits and other industry exposure opportunities, connecting them with leading agricultural companies, technologies, equipment, production systems and best practices.
The future of agriculture
The result is an educational experience designed to prepare students not simply to pass a qualification, but to enter the agricultural sector with practical skills, industry awareness, confidence and a professional understanding of how modern agriculture operates.
At Agri Skills Transfer, the classroom is only the beginning. The farm is the laboratory, industry is the teacher, and the future is the destination.
The institution’s message to prospective students is simple: agriculture offers far more possibilities than many young people realise.
The opportunity is to start with a qualification — and grow it into a career, a business and a future.
For more information:
- Visit www.agriskills.net
- Tel: 012 0023723
- WhatsApp: 076 203 3816
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