Local cotton farmers have benefitted from a touring mobile college which delivers university recognised tuition in the field.
Tocal College is run by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and allows people studying agriculture externally to earn credits towards their Certifications or Diplomas through practical work on-farm.
The ‘Cotton Industry Skills Development Project’ is federally funded, and as part of the project a training day was recently held at ‘Glencoe’, Wee Waa.
Charlie Bell from Tocal College said there was a wide range of people in attendance.
“We’ve got school leavers, operational staff, advisory staff, farm managers, farm owners all getting their qualifications and developing skills through this project, so everybody’s getting something out of it,” he said.
“This day is primarily aimed at cotton agronomy and irrigation, so looking at cotton crop establishment, cotton crop management in terms of pests, diseases and nutrition and we’re also doing a session on irrigation.
“We’re looking at how water flows around the farm, distribution of water and how that can be done most efficiently, so people will be taking away improved skills and improved understanding of how things work on the farm and why they’re doing what they’re doing.
“Cotton farm owners and managers might take home some ideas as to how they can modify and improve the efficiency of their irrigation systems.”
While Australia’s farming industry is widely recognised for its ability to find efficiencies and improve, Charlie explains the importance of continual learning.
“In terms of cotton production the systems today are about 40 to 50% more efficient than they were 25 years ago, so it’s those efficiency gains that have allowed people to stay in business and remain profitable,” he said.
“Our water is a scarce resource, we need to use it as efficiently and as effectively as we can, and this type of program has a potential to improve and sustain the efficiency of farming in Australia.
“This is pretty unique the way we’re able to deliver this project to farmers locally using local resources, local trainers, and we’ve had tremendous support from the farmers right across the country.”
Daniel Kahl was happy to host the day on his family’s farm ‘Glencoe’ so that locals could earn credits towards their qualifications.
“One of our employees was doing his Certificate 2 in Agriculture, and he’s full time with us now and was looking to keep studying, so he’s able to move on to Certificate 3 now as a result of this course,” he said.
“I’m now doing my diploma as well, so it’s a good way for us to further our qualifications.”
Daniel was able to complete two units of study to count towards his Diploma of Agriculture on the day.
“It’s pretty helpful that they can bring the program to us, it’s been quite good in recognising what you learn on farm, it isn’t usually a recognised qualification being a farmer.
“Constantly costs are going up so we have to always be trying to do things better, otherwise we won’t be here long.
“We’ve got less water and less money, so we have got to be able to keep producing more with less.”
Tocal College expects to run another training day in the area early next year.