An interactive day out was experienced by more than 150 students at Harvey WA College of Agriculture’s first primary education day.
Year six and seven students from Cooinda, Allanson, St Michael’s and St Anne’s primary schools participated in hands-on activities and were introduced to some of the people, products and processes involved in agriculture.
The Primary Schools’ Agriculture Awareness Day is a collaboration between the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) and WA College of Agriculture to promote the importance of food and fibre production.
WA College of Agriculture Deputy Principal Steve Watt said students and teachers were very interested and engaged throughout the whole process.
“It was great to open our doors to all the primary school kids to show them what agriculture and the college had to offer,” Mr Watt said.
Popular activities included a horticulture task involving juicing and measuring oranges, an exercise where students sampled salted liquorice in order to appreciate the effect of salinity on different types of vegetation and the calf display, educating students not only about beef and dairy breeds, but also welfare issues when working with animals.
DAFWA AgLinkEd officer Tom Plaisted said he was delighted with the positive response from the inaugural day at Harvey as it showed agriculture as a diverse industry that can often spark student interest in career possibilities.
The AgLinkEd team also holds awareness days in conjunction with other agricultural colleges around the state in Esperance, Morawa and Denmark and plays an important role in promoting educational programs and activities and facilitating links with other organisations and industry.
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