THE C H R O NI CL E PR O G R A M S A N D IN N OVAT ION
Chrysalide Frecklington and Zaro Jalal
WE NEED FARMERS A project raising awareness on how our food gets from paddock to the plate.
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ISSUE 10
A
ustralian agriculture is set to become a $100 billion industry by 2030 and education will be critical to achieving that. Kinross Wolaroi School’s Director of TREE (The Regional Engagement Enterprise), Mrs Sue-Ann Gavin is on a mission to inspire the next generation of farmers and educate students about where their food comes from. In September, she was presented with an $8000 grant from ABC Heywire to run the ‘We Need Farmers’ project at KWS and share resources with other primary schools in Orange. Sue-Ann says the School is perfectly located in the Central West’s food bowl to pilot the project. “Agriculture can be linked to almost 80 per cent of careers across the world and we are lucky to live in one of the most agriculturally diverse locations,” Sue-Ann said. “Some of KWS’ families are driving the future of innovation, technology and creativity in Agriculture and we all play a small part in educating the future generations to be equally amazing!”.
The project will engage industry experts including local farmers, abattoirs, sustainable market growers, wineries and orchardists to work with Stage 5 (Years 9 and 10) Agriculture students to create teaching and learning material for Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2) students at KWS. The senior students will also work with a graphic designer to create a video that explains why We Need Farmers, while all students will visit farms to see how their food makes the journey from paddock to plate. Students learn the best from doing and teaching others, Sue-Ann says. “Many of our Stage 5 Agriculture students are from the land and passionate about farming – who better to inspire the next generation of farmers?” she said. “This project will show our Stage 5 students that we value their skills and passion, and encourage them to learn more. In turn, this will empower them to make career and life choices aligned with agriculture.” The project will have benefits for the Junior School students that aren’t directly linked to Agriculture too, Sue-Ann says.
