Author Archives: Luciano Mesiti

Author: Luciano Mesiti

Luciano Mesiti has over 30 years experience as an agriculture educator in various University and high school settings. His work in NSW with agriculture high school teachers as past president of the NSW Agriculture Teachers Association and within his high school roles highlights the high level of passion and knowledge he has about the agricultural education curriculum in Australia. He grew up on a farm and has worked in research locally and internationally in agriculture and rural sociology. He has a strong focus to contribute primary industries resources that meet the needs of teachers across Australia.

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National Ag Day 2021 Update

It’s Almost Here… National Ag Day 2021!

National Ag Day is coming up very soon on November 19. This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the importance of agriculture and the immense opportunities available for our young people to engage in the wide variety of careers on offer. This year, in the lead up to National Ag Day, PIEFA is offering a whole week of Farmer Time sessions. Farmer Time is PIEFA’s virtual farm program, bringing on-site farmer visits into the classroom via Google Meet. The sessions cover a range of industries from each state, with guest producers presenting topics to suit both primary and secondary classrooms.

To find out more about the sessions and to register, go here: https://primezone.edu.au/agday2021/

As well, PIEFA, in collaboration with our member organisations, have developed a series of primary classroom STEM challenges that have both science and maths focused activities. You can find these resources here: https://primezone.edu.au/stemchallenge/

During November, the National Farmers Federation is running a series of live Careers Expo webinars to suit secondary students. A fantastic range of speakers have been organised to introduce students to the diverse range of ag-based career pathways in both a rural and urban setting. Find the registration page here: https://www.agday.org.au/careers-expo – it’s really worth a look! You will also find the sessions are recorded and available to watch at a later date if you can’t get to the live sessions.

As you can see, there are many activities and events for you to engage your students in discovering more about agriculture, food and fibre industries. If you have any questions, please contact Luciano – ceo@piefa.edu.au.

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New Hort Australia Resources

The industries associated with horticulture play a vital role in providing us with many different types of food and plant products that are essential to our health and wellbeing.

A recent PIEFA survey of students about their understanding of primary industries showed that over 30% of Australian students have very little understanding of fruit and vegetable industries. The survey also showed that 24% of students wanted to know more about careers in horticulture-based industries. There is a perception amongst young people that careers focused on plant products are boring and poorly paid.

Student exposure to horticulture industries is predominantly through fruit and vegetables, more so because they eat them daily, rather than an in-depth understanding of those industries. It is also evident there is a much less understanding of all the other horticulture industries such as nursery, turf, nuts and olives to name a few.

PIEFA’s role is to work with industry research and development organisations like Hort Innovation to bridge these gaps in understanding between industry and schools. The creation of new and engaging teaching materials assists to better educate both teachers and students about the incredible opportunities that exist in horticulture industries.

Our main aim is to inspire young people to get more involved in horticulture and the variety of careers. Also, given the challenges horticulture industries face due to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, now is a perfect opportunity to showcase horticulture industries with brand new teaching resources.

   

PIEFA has been working with Hort Innovation to create two new and exciting teaching resources. The first is called Green Your Scene, which is a year 7-8 Science and Geography targeted resource. It focuses on the importance of green spaces in and around the home, the positive impacts plants have on health and wellbeing, community green spaces, backyard living, and design your garden activities.

The second resource is called Food Production through Protected Cropping, which is year 9 Geography-focused. This resource focuses on food production of blueberries and cucumbers and how they are produced. It also gives students the opportunity to explore the challenges faced by these producers to overcome many issues such as climate, labour, costs and demand. It also provides students with an insight into the use of technology such as drones and hydroponics to manage these crops.

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Join Us For Science Week 2021!

This year’s National Science Week theme is Food: Different by Design, which is a fantastic opportunity for science teachers to reflect on how to integrate food and agriculture concepts into their science and technology curriculum.

For many teachers, the idea of integrating something to do with agriculture into their science lessons might seem scary, very time consuming and beyond their capabilities.

But this is far from the truth as there are many ways in which teachers can include great food and agriculture examples very easily. Initially teachers might think of vegetable gardens, chicken pens, recycling, composting, and worm farms as examples of sustainability and teaching kids where food comes from. These are all fantastic ways to engage your students in sustainability, conservation and the basic concepts about food and cycles.

With more of an emphasis on STEM, there are many more opportunities to integrate food and agriculture into your classroom. Collecting data about your local climate and weather, observing the changes in your natural environment in and around your school, problem-solving real-world land management issues and exploring how technology is being used to make food production more efficient are some ideas about integrating food and agriculture that will give students a hands-on understanding about the food that they eat.

PIEFA has a number of programs to assist teachers with this endeavour. Primezone, Primezone Academy, Farmer Time and Career Harvest are just some of the resources available to help teachers provide their students with a better understanding about food and fibre production.

Through this year’s National Science Week, PIEFA offer links to resources and programs that can help teachers not only during National Science Week but also to encourage teachers to continue integrating food and agriculture in the classroom all year round. Go to our special Science Week page for information: https://primezone.edu.au/science-week/. PIEFA is here to help with all of these activities so please have a look at the web page and get involved with the many activities we have planned for National Science Week.