From apprentice to operations manager: training path and career in agriculture
Basic course, main course and many ways forward after the journeyman's test
Agricultural education is a vocational education (EUD) that alternates between teaching at an agricultural school and practical training on a real farm. The path from student to skilled farmer — and further to farm manager or self-employed — goes through several clearly defined stages.
§Basic course and practice
The education starts with a basic course where the student learns the basic professional and general subjects and gets their first insight into the subject. This is followed by apprenticeship at an agricultural business or other enterprise in the field, where the student is trained in practical work by an experienced farmer, before the student returns to school for the main course.
§Main courses
| Course | Typical duration | Content |
|---|---|---|
| 1. main course | About 4 months | Basic trade theory in plant cultivation, livestock, machinery and safety |
| Apprenticeship period | Varies | Practical training on a farm between 1st and 2nd main course |
| 2. main course | About 5 months | Deepening, specialisation and preparation for the journeyman's exam |
After completing the 2nd main course and passing a journeyman exam, the student is trained and can call themselves a skilled farmer with the rights and responsibilities that entails.
§Agricultural schools
- 01Dalum Agricultural School in Funen which among other things offers the main course of agricultural training.
- 02Grindsted Agricultural School in Jutland, which also offers basic and main courses in agricultural training.
- 03Bygholm Agricultural School near Horsens which in addition to agricultural education also offers further education to agricultural economist.
§Further after the journeyman exam
The skilled farmer can stay in production as an employee, but many choose to build on the education. Popular further educations are production manager and agricultural economist, both of which give competence to lead and develop larger agricultural production, as well as agricultural technologist, which is a higher education with focus on management, technology and consultancy in the agricultural sector.
§The path to your own business
For many the long-term goal is to run or own their own farm. This can happen through starting from scratch through employment as a farm manager with gradually increasing responsibility or through a generational change where a young farmer takes over an existing farm — often from family or a farmer without an obvious heir. Regardless of the path beyond the skilled training it requires solid insight into economics law and management which is built among other things through further education.
“The journeyman's exam is not the end of learning — it's proof that you're ready to start building your own career in the trade.”
— Professional guidance on career paths in agriculture.