For more than 20 years students from Armidale’s O’Connor Catholic College have been working with local farmers … and winning awards along the way.
This year the Year 10 team of Charlotte Wade, Lachlan Patricks, Brody Hoffman and Mitchell Jones have taken out the Northern Tablelands Schools Property Planning Competition, announced at Agquip on Wednesday.
High school agriculture students from across the Northern Tablelands were given the guidelines for the competition at a field day at “Waratah”, Guyra, in late March and had less than two months to come up with a plan for delivering sustainable change for the property.
O’Connor agriculture teacher, Janet Price, said the competition was “so crucial for kids” as it gave them an opportunity to be innovative, creative and was “somthing they can really get a hold of”.
Ms Price said the students tapped into the experience of local landcare services, including biosecurity, to come up with ways to improve farm productivity.
“They had to collect data, including maps, and get input from the owner,” she said.
“They then had to look at what to do to improve output and what funding was available.”
Ms Price said the competition was a great opportunity for students to learn more about agriculture and to look for careers in the field.
As for the future of this talented quartet, Charlotte is looking at a career as a stock and station agent, Mitchell is looking at the science side of agriculture, Brody is looking to put his electrical skills to good use and Lachlan is eyeing up a career in the army.
