South Staffordshire College’s new agri-tech training facility, the AgriSTEM Academy, will officially open its doors on Friday 23rd June. The £5.4 million Academy, which aims to address the fundamental economic and food security issues facing the farming community, will provide training opportunities for the agri-tech and advanced manufacturing and engineering (AME) industries.
 
The Academy is situated at South Staffordshire College’s 180 hectare Rodbaston campus, and will offer a new range of diplomas, apprenticeships and traineeships in subjects such as Landbased Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, and Motorsport. Its first intake of students will start in September 2017, though industry leaders and politicians will be given a tour of the premises during an open day on 23rd June.

South Staffordshire College promises that its new AgriSTEM academy will prepare students for a rapidly transforming agriculture industry. The new facility is equipped with a precision farming engineering lab, and agricultural engineering workshops. In addition to its use as a centre of learning, the College also intends to host a number of events at AgriSTEM over the coming months, tackling the problems facing agriculture, and discussing the solutions needed. The Academy’s location in the geographical centre of the UK makes it a convenient and accessible venue for industry leaders to come together.
 
Ahead of the launch event, Graham Morley, Chief Executive Principal of South Staffordshire College, commented, “The unique combination of facilities and expertise on offer at AgriSTEM will place us right at the forefront of the national skills agenda. We will play a vital role in addressing the nation’s food security challenges, tackling the economic cliff-edge facing agriculture, and enabling students to successfully pursue a career in the agri-tech or AME industries. Agriculture in particular faces a very different future from its traditional roots, and we have clear objectives in terms of how the Academy will prepare learners for that. We want to invite the wider industry to come and witness for themselves how we can meet those objectives.”
 
“Looking forward, we want the AgriSTEM Academy to not only be a centre of excellence for skills, but also to be at the centre of the national conversation on the issues facing UK agriculture today. The Academy provides a logical and natural home for that debate, and we look forward to welcoming industry professionals back to participate in those conversations.”