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ACS Seminars 2018 #ACSSeminars

NEW IN CAREERS

EDUCATION VITAL FOR

FUTURE FARMERS

Once upon a time, a career in agriculture was fairly
limited. Reserved primarily for people that grew up in
rural and remote areas, it encompassed general farming
practices and required no qualifications. However, times
have changed. High school graduates from the inner
city are taking up agriculture degrees and there is more
scope to study in the metropolitan area, rather than
making the trek to a rural campus several hours away.

Cattle farming is a specific area that has and will
continue to benefit from new technologies, including
virtual fencing, drones and remote monitoring of body
conditions. The CSIRO has even created its own app,
Soilmapp, which allows farmers to understand more
about the soil on their property.
Despite the benefits of studying agriculture, many
As exciting as these advances are, implementing them workers in the industry are not taking advantage of the
will be a gradual process for several reasons. The avail- educational opportunities, which is good news for those
ability of technology is an obvious factor, as some are taking the initiative.
on the market now whereas others are speculative.
Cost will also have an impact, dependent not only on
affordability but whether the product is providing a “THE HIDDEN SCIENCE IN AGRICUL-
worthwhile return and the attitudes of farmers who have TURE IS ENORMOUS AND I ALWAYS
been using the same techniques and technology for long
periods of time may prove a struggle. FELT IT WOULD BE HUGELY BENEFI-
CIAL TO STUDY AGRICULTURE. IN AN
Education is key to equipping future generations of INDUSTRY WHERE A LOT OF PEOPLE
farmers with the skillsets required to prosper in the
sector and take full advantage of innovation, yet DON’T STUDY TO PROGRESS THEIR
between 2001 and 2016, enrolments in agriculture CAREER, IT PUTS YOU AT A HUGE AD-
and environmental studies dropped by 13 per cent.
This is a concerning decline for a field that now more VANTAGE TO HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE
than ever needs employees with their fingers on the BEHIND YOU,” SAID SHAUN.
pulse.
“Next year I’m planning on studying environmental
For those who have made the decision to hit the books, sustainability and engineering. The agriculture study
like Shaun Martin, it has been a good one. After years of has laid the groundwork for this.”
traditional farm work, Shaun decided to pursue a tertia-
ry qualification at the University of Melbourne’s Dookie Whether enrolments in agriculture courses will boost in
campus. Twelve months later, he returned to work with the near future remains to be seen but in the interim,
a Diploma of General Studies (Agriculture), and the those that choose to conduct further study will be doing
benefits were immediately evident. their job prospects no harm at all.

“It was a broad subject but very relevant, and the
science behind the basic things such as plant growth
through to long-term climate change adaptations all
have significance to the agriculture industry,” he said.

“It helped enormously having the knowledge behind
me of how and why things were done. On top of this,
you become able to explain to the client the reasoning
behind your decision-making and provide input for pro-
grams.”