Loaded up: Ella Cope and Oscar Carver, complete with John Deere tractors and hay bales, race one another in the farm relay challenge as part of the national ag day commemoration.
Teachers wearing “grass green’’ T-shirts emblazoned with the words “I love farmers’’ and students pushing wheelbarrows filled with hay were just two components of the St Augustine’s College National Agriculture Day celebration last week.
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A feature of the celebration was a farm relay, which required students from the college’s Year 7 and Year 8 ag class to unlock a gate, negotiate a course with a hay laden wheelbarrow, carry a bucket of milk and juice oranges.
Ag teacher Steph Challis co-ordinated the relay, which involved a dress up component, as part of the national celebration of all things rural.
Australia is lucky that almost all the food that is required is homegrown by the nation’s farmers and 75 per cent of what is produced is also exported.
The week is designed to allow Australians who know very little about the farmers that produce their food — and even less about the amazing innovations — that is delivered on their plate.
National Agriculture Day last week was designed to build awareness about the importance of science and innovation in agriculture and the role that agriculture plays in a much bigger picture.
The world will have to double food production in the next few decades to meet the needs of a growing population. Farmers have this on their mind while transitioning to ever more sustainable farming practices in the face of continuous environmental challenges.
More juice: Hayley Taylor participates in the carrot planting and orange squeezing component of the farm relay that was part of the National Agriculture Day celebration
Home delivery: Neve Pethebridge, Tayte Newman and Antonio De Pasquale during the St Augustine’s College farm relay that involved the Year 7 and Year 8 ag class students.
