High school students from Goondiwindi’s St Mary’s Parish School and Border Rivers Christian College (BRCC) had the chance to learn about some of the cool technologies being used in agriculture during the Discover Farming’s spatial world workshop on Thursday.
Presentations included Tim Neale from Data Farming talking about how spatial technology is changing the ways of agriculture, and Mick Law from Queensland Spacial Information Council talking about exciting new digital geographical tools.
Students also got the chance to see some key spatial tools in action, as well as get hands on with drones from Jerome Leray, In Farm, Goondiwindi, and a John Deere tractor from Chesterfield Goondiwindi.
Data Farming’s Tim Neale said the workshop was excellent and it was great to see kids so interested in exciting agriculture technologies.
“I think the difference here is that it’s relevant for them,” he said.
“Not only are they into ag, but they’ve got farms out here, so they’re able to look at their own farms on the screen and that made it even better.”
Mr Neale said while workshops with high school students may seem a long way from what he does every day with precision agriculture technologies, he thinks it’s important to be getting kids interested.
“We need to be looking out for the next generation coming through and giving them some inspiration.”
BRCC student Brendan McCormick said he really enjoyed the workshop and getting hands on with the technologies on show.
“I learnt a lot because I didn't know there was that much technology and stuff in agriculture,” he said.
“The drones were my favourite part and it was cool to learn that satellites can take photos of how much crop their is and how much they produce.”
Students from Border Rivers also got to tour a sprout-fed beef operation and olive plantation on Monday as part of the Discover Farming education program.
Border Rivers teacher, Mark Cranney, said the workshop was a great opportunity for the students and that the farm tours were great for the paddock to plate unit the students are currently doing.
“We all learnt a lot, and much of it is stuff that I can incorporate into teaching as well,” he said.
“They really enjoyed the farm tours - they had a great time and it was a good experience for them.
“It’s good to get out of the classroom.”
