Scotland’s Rural College, SRUC, has launched a new graduate trainee programme for agricultural consultants.
The first two students on the programme have just begun their two-year placements at the college’s consulting arm SAC Consulting.
Iona Brisbane and Maimie Sloan were selected out of 110 graduates who applied for the scheme.
As part of the scheme, the two graduates will spend four six-month placements across SAC Consulting’s network, before being given a position at the organisation. Iona Brisbane, who hails from an upland beef and sheep farm just outside Stranraer, joins the scheme after graduating from SRUC’s Ayr campus with a BSc Honours in Agriculture.
Maimie Sloan, who hails from a rural background in Dumfries and Galloway, graduated from Newcastle University in 2015 with a BSc in Agriculture with Honours in Animal Production Science. She has spent the past two years working as a technical sales advisor for an animal feed company in Devon.
SAC Consulting business manager George Baikie, who is responsible for the scheme, said: “This new graduate trainee programme is intended to develop and nurture staff to meet organisational demands as opposed to filling vacancies upon requirement.”
The organisation’s managing director, Mike Wijnberg, said: “SAC Consulting is a people business and we recognise that developing talent at all levels in our business is important for our future.The initiation of this programme represents one element in a wider portfolio of activity to build capacity and capability in SAC Consulting for the future.”
