ANOTHER 19 students have now completed the Northern Mallee Horticulture Immersion Project.
Introduced this year, the Horticulture Immersion Project is a hands-on course which runs each term, involving nine full days worth of horticultural experiences.
Students gather at Chaffey Secondary College’s Farm, and learn about irrigation technology, sustainability, fertilisation, agronomy, biosecurity, automation, data analytics and other specialised fields in the industry.
Participants get to tour a propagation nursery, laboratory and research sites, smart farms, fruit and nut blocks, farm machinery operations and processing facilities in the citrus and almond industries.
Chaffey Secondary College year 9 student Angus Sutton enjoyed getting his hands dirty, and going on site visits.
He liked the excursion to Mildura Fruit Company the most.
“It was kind of satisfying to watch the oranges fall off and get all sorted and picked,” he said.
Merbein P-10 College year 9 student Abbie Whitehouse decided to take part in the project, after seeing posters at her school.
“I thought it would be a good experience for me because I’ve been trying to find new opportunities and stuff,” she said.
“It’s a good experience and I feel like most people that have an interest or just like plants or farming in general should do this.”
