Vet Sustain and VetSalus are launching their inaugural sustainability training course for farm veterinary professionals on Monday 4 July 2022.
“A Veterinary Approach to Sustainable Food and Farming” is an online learning course designed to empower farm animal veterinarians and paraprofessionals around the world to help producers achieve multiple sustainability objectives.
This unique, self-paced, 10-module sustainability training course is expected to take between four and six months to complete by remote learning, and has been designed to fit around busy work and life schedules.
Developed by the social enterprise Vet Sustain in partnership with VetSalus, the course will provide participants with a LANTRA-accredited certification.
Featuring referenced guides, quizzes, assignments and recommended reads, the sustainability training course covers modules such as “The Sustainable Practitioner”, “Farming Systems of the World” , “Efficient Farming”, “Agro-ecology”, “Organic and Regenerative Agriculture” and “Sustainable and Regenerative Business”.
Students will join an international community of veterinary professionals all taking the course at the same time and will be invited to attend live recorded online tutorials with the community and course organisers at the beginning, middle and end of the course. These sessions will consolidate the learning material, address specific questions and prompt discussions.
Each module features a Module Champion from Vet Sustain’s Food and Farming Working Group, who will highlight the ways in which the sustainability training course content is relevant to and can be applied to veterinary work. A dedicated forum will also be available for completing tasks and discussing relevant topics with the course community.
Tom Warboys, a veterinary surgeon at Synergy Farm Health who reviewed the course said “This course provides a fascinating, in-depth exploration of sustainable food production and the role practitioners hold in shaping our farming practices, both current and future.
“I found it challenging, enlightening and above all, motivating. It enables us as farm advisors to guide clients through the many changing expectations (and opportunities) within agriculture.”
Lewis Griffiths, chair of VetSalus, said: “Awareness of the many aspects of sustainability is steadily growing and it is essential that the veterinary profession is informed and capable of leading opinion in the areas where our expertise is needed most.
“This new sustainability training course, produced by Vet Sustain and VetSalus, provides valuable information which will greatly enhance the ability of vets to provide leadership and support their clients on their ongoing journey to improve sustainability and become ever more regenerative within their farming operations.
The course is aimed at veterinary professionals and those working in vet-led businesses, and while there are no specific entry requirements, all students are expected to have undertaken an undergraduate degree, technical qualification as a paraprofessional or a relevant diploma.
The full price of the sustainability training course will be £1250 +VAT per student (no VAT applied to non-UK businesses), butVet Sustain and VetSalus are offering a 20% introductory discount to the first 50 students to enrol (£995 +VAT; offer ends 31 of July).
Enrollment opens on 4 July 2022, with the first live tutorial scheduled for Wednesday 20th July 2022. Be the first to register your interest on the VetSustain website. For any further enquiries please contact Megan Williamson.