NEW technologies and advancements in the agricultural industry will be on display at the final AgForce ‘Moo, Baa, Munch’ event in Toowoomba this week.
About 600 students fro 13 different schools across the Western and Darling Downs are expected to attend the popular event, which will be held at Downlands College on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It will be the final time the program is run after the State Government announced it would not renew funding for the AgForce facilitated School to Industry Partnership Program, which has been running for 14 years.
The program, which reaches 10,000 students annually was introduced to connect kids with the land and teach them about where their food and fiber comes from.
It attracted $181,000 funding annually, but that will not be renewed after this year.
AgForce School to Industry Liaison Officer Tanya Nagle said several new businesses had come on board to showcase innovation in the agricultural industry.
“This is super important as while about 300,000 people work in agriculture are on farms, there’s also another 1.6 million in the whole agribusiness supply chain,” Ms Nagle said.
“More than 50 per cent are actually based in cities so it is important for the kids to know the options out there.
“It’s about being hands on and having face to face contact with the industry and potential employers. They may do work experience and find out whether a job they had never thought of is for them or now.
“The farmers are at the start, and they are very important, but then there’s a lot of people involved in getting that product from the farm to you plate or on to your back.”
Ms Nagle said Universal Drones would talk about the use of drones in agriculture, while another business would discuss seed pathology and grain testing.
Property mapping specialists will be on hand to show students how the use of computers is vital for farmers and agronomists to map land.
Tractors will be on display with senior students told about the use of GPS systems and automation.
There will also be veggie growers and chicken groups for the younger students to learn where their food comes from.