The next generation of farmers had the opportunity to get their hands dirty and learn about agriculture during the very first open day at Narrabri’s Federation Farm on Wednesday.
About 180 school children from each of Narrabri's four schools – Narrabri Public School, Narrabri West Public School, St Francis Xavier’s Primary School and Narrabri High School – attended the open day where they learnt about how the farm works, how effluent is used to fertilise and irrigate crops, the benefits of soils and bio solids and all about cotton.
“The whole purpose of the day is to introduce kids to the facility that they actually own, it’s a community-owned facility,” Federation Farm education trust board member and organiser of the open day Rohen Boehm said.
“We want to run this open day every year to introduce kids to the farm and in time, to introduce them to the idea that careers in agriculture are real and that real people work in it.
“That’s the bigger idea, we want to make sure they get to see agriculture is a really good career and an opportunity for people to stay in the area.”
Federation Farm is a 303ha share farm established 15 years ago by Narrabri Shire Council to recycle effluent from Narrabri sewerage plant and use the waste water and bio solids to irrigate and fertilise growing crops, including cotton, wheat, barley, sorghum and chickpeas.
An education trust was established between the four schools in Narrabri, who took on the management of the farm and share the profits on a pro capita basis.
Since the farm was established, $550,000 has gone back into the Narrabri schools who have used the funds to purchase much-needed student resources.
As the schools are the beneficiaries of the farm, it was Mr Boehm’s idea to establish an open day to educate students about agriculture and how the farm works.
Last year was meant to be the first open day, but when it got rained out it was postponed to this year.
The idea is for the open day to be an annual event, so that all students will have the chance to experience the farm as they progress through their schooling years.
Primary students from years five and six, and year 12 students from Narrabri High School participated in the open day on Wednesday.
“What I want them to take out of it is for them to know there’s a really interesting thing out here, that agriculture could be fun and that their school is really benefitting from the work we do,” Mr Boehm said
