Focusing on the Future of Farming Careers
17/6/2018
Melbourne University had a recent Food and Fiber Careers Day which was attended by hundreds of secondary students from various parts of Victoria. The event was held at the Dookie Campus and included a dozen workshops under the topics of technology and agriculture with a focus on modern innovations in both.
Melbourne University had a recent Food and Fiber Careers Day which was attended by hundreds of secondary students from various parts of Victoria. The event was held at the Dookie Campus and included a dozen workshops under the topics of technology and agriculture with a focus on modern innovations in both.Karen Edwards who organised the event explained that the day was dedicated to busting myths around agriculture in the 21st century.
‘‘Any chance we have we talk about where technology works,’’ Ms Edwards said.
‘‘In adult terms, we talk about increasing productivity, but in kids’ terms we talk about making jobs easier and what kinds of opportunities are open to them.’’
Currently farming has moved long past the traditional model of the last century and there are many more innovations set to change agriculture as we know it in the future. Farming is now much more than being in a field and doing manual labour. There is a lot of technology involved, business decisions to be made and big data to be worked with.
The workshops at the event included topics such as transport, plant science, agribusiness, hydroponics, dairy, grains and even drones. John Bursill a drone pilot was on hand and happy that the weather was great which made his job a lot easier at the event. With no wind it was indeed a beautiful day for flying. Drones are evolving and they play an important role in agriculture as they continue to evolve and new uses for these devices are being discovered every day.
Currently drones are used for checking on fencing, stock, troughs and for general asset management but there are a number of newer and wider uses that are set to come online where drones will make processes easier and more streamlined.
The Dookie campus will soon be undergoing research that will make it easier for farmers to check up on their pregnant stock. The University will be using thermal imaging to determine when a stock is about to drop.
Infra-red technology and thermal technology can be used to check plant health, helping to see where the water density is to make better choices about irrigation. This can help farms and farmers to be more cost efficient in their day to day water expenditure.
Students at the event had the opportunity to perform some lab work for themselves. Dr Tanille Baily from the Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE instructed students on how to analyze cow’s blood. ‘‘I’ve been awfully surprised with how much they’ve loved doing blood smears, it’s been very rewarding,’’ Dr Baily said.
This experience has given the students a glimpse of what it is like to be a veterinarian or to work in the veterinary industry. Dr Baily notes some students even asked how they could go about becoming vets; what they have to do and how do they get in.
