The School to Industry Partnership Program (SIPP) was busy engaging with school students of all ages and their teachers during Beef Week 2018.

The event was an excellent opportunity for SIPP to highlight the importance of agriculture and the role it plays in the lives of all Australians.

Agforce Training Manager Peter Smith said the SIPP showed primary school students where their food and fibre came from, exposed high school students to the wealth of career opportunities in agriculture related industries and benefitted agricultural science teachers.

“The Cattle Kids Calf Classroom was set up in the Kids Space and catered to schools and families attending Beef Week on a guided or self-guided tour to experience agriculture,” Mr Smith said.

“The students and young children participated in activities such as badge and key-ring making commemorating their Beef Week experience, colouring in, farm puzzles and games, or played with the farm, BBQs or ride-on John Deere Tractors.”

“The Cattle Kids Calf Classroom was well attended with approximately 3700 school students and 1800 children and parents/carers passed through during the week.”

“Over 200 students from 15 high schools and 40 industry representatives attended the Career Conversations event at Beef Week which provided students looking forward to a career in agriculture information on career pathways and a greater understanding of the diverse and exciting job options available in the industry.”

“While 10 teachers from nine schools attended the Professional Development Workshop with Dr Amy Cosby and Associate Professor Mark Trotter.”

“The teachers were introduced to the GPS Cows project and were able to observe and handle the GPS collars, watch a demonstration of how to put the collar on cattle and look at and analyse the data collected.”

Mr Smith said the Beef Week SIPP events ticked all the boxes and was a positive experience for all students and teachers who were involved.

“The interactive and face-to-face engagement of students and teachers was a great opportunity to share the great work being done in the agriculture industry and encourage students to consider working in the sector in the future,” Mr Smith said.

The SIPP program will continue to engage with primary and secondary students and their agricultural science teachers to highlight the importance of agriculture in their everyday lives and assist students and teachers understand the origins of their food and fibre, and career opportunities across the agriculture sector and supply chain.