Twenty two Y9-Y12 students (ten male and twelve female) from seven schools and two colleges attended this three day pilot Industry Introduction Program jointly facilitated by SCOPE and Rural Skills Australia.

Industry stakeholders provided a high quality experience designed to provide career pathway information in an informative and interactive manner about the sector which has difficulty recruiting people at all levels.

Students spent the first day at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens where they leaned about seed collection, conservation and propagation, the Tasmanian and subantarctic plant collections, displaying plants in the Conservatory and what goes on at the Botanical Resources Centre. In addition they got to see the ABC filming Peter Cundall’s regular vegie garden segment for Gardening Australia. The highlight of the day was the tree climbing experience supervised by the Gardens’ Arborist.

The three days spent looking around the horticultural industries has opened up my mind to the alternatives that there are for me to go into in the future...

Day 2 saw the students out and about. Visits to various sites in the Cambridge/Coal River region included: a close look at Houstons’ Farms where 7.8 million kilograms of lettuce is produced annually, Tolpuddle Vineyards, Westland Nurseries and Royal Hobart Golf Club. At all sites students not only picked up useful information about careers in those aspects of the industry but also heard how to gain valuable paid work experience in their holidays.

Day 3 focused on post Y10 courses. At UTAS students examined sugar levels in fruit and heard from a young post-grad student about the importance of research for industries today. TAFE was also fully hands-on. Students tried their hand at paving and seed propagation as well as enjoying a barbeque put on by the TAFE staff.

All industry and education stakeholders found the program was well received and all expect to see some of the students either in the school holidays or on a more permanent basis in the future.

Students provided a one page report on their experience which was illustrated and bound, with participating schools receiving a copy.

For more information about this program or careers in this industry:

Click here to visit the Careers in Agrifoods website

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Click here to download the Agrifoods HoroSCOPE

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