Training

The course objective is to provide practical guidance on how to grow protected crops on smallholdings and farms.

This course is run over a single day and covers the following topics:

• Introduction – what course will cover  
• Types of protection and how to use them (with light, heat and irrigation) to extend the season  
• Crop choice - what to grow
• Crop rotation – crop diversity in space and time
• Ground preparation and maintenance under protection
• Fertilisers under protection (are they different from those used outdoors?)
• Controlling the environment for protected crops
• Pests and diseases – identification, prevention and control

These sessions are a mixture of lectures, group work and practical sessions.  The aim is to provide a background to protected crop production and to discuss the challenges they involve in a practical environment. Sessions are currently delivered mainly indoors in a classroom situation, but access to a farm or holding is essential in order to deliver the practical aspects of the course. This course is currently delivered by Audrey Litterick, in conjunction an external consultant or with an SAC staff member from another Division.

Comprehensive handouts are provided.