FARMING OUT KNOWLEDGE: CMA board member Reg Kidd with Molong Central School students Chloe Boyd, Maddy Kalanj, Tyla Campbell, Nick Stedman, Merissa Reid and Dean Wells, winners of the Orange School Farm Planning Competition. Photo: JUDE KEOGH 1016field8
MOLONG Central School know how to farm.
A group of seven students took out the top prize in the Orange School Farm Planning Competition.
Molong Central School student Chloe Boyd said the farm project the student developed was a group effort. The project was completed after visiting Lucknow farmer John Blunt’s farm once.
The students came up with a report about how to make the farm more environmentally and economically sustainable.
“We just tried to improve what was there,” she said. “All aspects like water and soil.”
The schools farm planning competition is a Central west Catchment Management Authority initiative designed to prepare agricultural students to consider environmental and natural resource issues when running a farming enterprise.
Students attend a practical day at a local property. They are provided with a farm planning kit that requires students to complete field exercises involving soils, land capability, water, biodiversity, pasture and grazing management.
CMA board member Reg Kidd announced the award winner.
“This is certainly a proven educational program designed to reinforce how natural resource management and agricultural production can work hand-in-hand to achieve profitability and sustainable future,” he said.
“The school farm planning competition encourages students to think of the farm holistically, to develop resilient farming practices that cope with the effects of climate change and industry impacts along with caring for the land.”
