SIXTEEN students have graduated from the inaugural Northern Mallee Horticulture Immersion Project.
The students from Chaffey Secondary College, Mildura Specialist School and Red Cliffs Secondary College had nine interactive classes this term, visiting the Chaffey College Secondary Farm, as well as various horticulture enterprises.
The program is designed to show students the opportunities in horticulture beyond picking and packing.
Mildura Specialist School Year 12 student Stephen Pederson said the entire program was very interesting.
“It highlighted a lot of things that I didn’t know,” he said. “The types of plants and the types of technology they use on farms that are very useful.”
Red Cliffs Secondary College Year 9 student Nadia Cohrs said she’s always been interested in plants, and was interested to learn more.
“I think the program is really good, we learned a lot of stuff about the horticulture and agriculture as a whole,” Nadia said.
“Visiting Select Harvests was probably the biggest highlight, and growing the tomatoes was very informative, you learn a lot about how things work.
Mildura Specialist School Year 11 student Zack Jacobson said he’s always had an interest in gardens, and this program has built his knowledge.
“The visit to Swan Hill (Select Harvests) was pretty good, yeah it was amazing, because they had all these machines,” Zack said.
The program will continue in term two, where a fresh batch of sixteen students from the participating schools will take part.
Zack has been spreading the word to his friends to take part.
“Last week I went back to school and said to some of my friends it’s very fun, this is an opportunity for you guys to take,” he said.
The Northern Mallee Learning and Employment Network debuted the program this year, after obtaining a grant through the Victorian State Government’s $50 million Agricultural College Modernisation Project.
Industry Employers that provided on-site visits to the students include the SuniTAFE SMART Farm, Select Harvests, Southern Cross Farms, Mildura Fruit Company, Agromillora Australia JV Pty Ltd, Analytical Laboratories & Technical Services Australia, Haeusler’s Group, Victorian Citrus Farms and the Agriculture Victoria SmartFarm.
