RECENT innovations at the Longreach Pastoral College are resulting in students moving from learning concepts to identifying quality and speaking knowledgeably about it, according to new agribusiness program manager Charlie Nolan.
His face is well-known to many in rural Queensland, having spent 26 years to 1995 with the Department of Primary Industries before five years in international wool processing and marketing at Trieste, Italy, and then a 12-year career in the finance industry.
His vision for the college is to graduate students who can fully manage an enterprise across the board, whether it be for succession planning purposes on a family property, to take on a management role in a corporate situation, for people planning a contracting career or for those who see themselves with a future in agribusiness.
The plan is to "fully engage" students in the supervision of all livestock, from conception to the most profitable market product.
Certificate III student Melinda Driver recently qualified to compete in the 2016 national finals for wool young judges in Tasmania, while results at the Longreach show means that the college's El Pascol stud will take three heifers to compete in the ring at this year's Ekka.
On top of this, the college has installed a new 223m centre pivot watering system for its Thomson River farm where it's being put straight to work watering a newly planted winter oats crop.
While it's expected to bring efficiency gains in terms of time saved moving hand lines every day, Mr Nolan also sees its value in highlighting diversity in production systems in the region, and to encourage thinking about sustainable food security.
"This isn't going to use more water; it's about using what we have more efficiently," he said.
"It gets people thinking about complementing animal production with crops, even in a semi-arid region."
