Ag Careers Roadshow Visits Beef Capital
Students at Park Avenue State School explored exciting career options in the beef industry when they attended an EXCITED 4 Careers in Agriculture event at the Central Queensland Livestock Exchange (CQLX) in Gracemere.
The national program is targeted at students from prep to Year 10 in regional and rural communities.
Funded by the Australian Government’s National Careers Institute, EXCITED for Agriculture is a joint initiative between CQUniversity and a range of industry partners including AgForce Queensland.
The project gave students, teachers, and parents a taste of the exciting careers available in the agricultural sector and introduced them to people in the region who are currently working in the industry.
CQUniversity Associate Professor and leader of the Agricultural Education and Extension Cluster Amy Cosby said the aim of the event was to inspire students to consider careers in agriculture.
“We organised fun and interesting activities for students so they can experience some of the science and technology that goes into producing their beef,” she said.
“Through our research, we have found that many students assume the main jobs in agriculture involve hands-on farming, so we want to showcase that, while being a farmer is a great career, there’s actually an abundance of other opportunities as well.”
Assoc Prof Cosby said her team would help students isolate specific careers in ag that would suit them and that they may not have considered before.
“It also helps to show that there really are careers for everyone within the agriculture sector,” Assoc Prof Cosby said.
“For example, a student might feel they are quite a creative person, so we can help them explore what a career in livestock marketing might look like as this would fit in with their personality and interests.
“On the other hand, another student might feel they have a ‘realistic’ personality trait which could link with being a butcher, so we help them learn what that career entails.
“Students will also get to learn about other jobs that might not perfectly align with their personality traits as we know through education and experiences people can step outside their comfort zone and find fulfilling careers too.”
The event included a visit to Central Queensland Livestock Exchange (CQLX) in Gracemere where the students saw first-hand some of the exciting careers in the beef industry. CQLX is one of the foremost livestock saleyards and stud stock selling facilities in Australia.
CQLX Manager of Business Stephanie Frankham said her team was looking forward to hosting the students.
“We have a great cross-section of people here from all levels of industry and education," she said.
“We work with producers, agents, vets, breeding specialists, nutritionists and ringers, just to name a few, so there will be no shortage of inspiration here at CQLX.
“We also have a huge network of people who contribute to CQLX without being on-site, for example we commenced a $12 million redevelopment in 2010 and there was an amazing team behind the scenes of engineers, designers and other specialists which is a great example of all the ag jobs that take place in the city and make a huge difference out here on the ground.
“I believe the students will be very impressed when they see the cutting-edge technology and design that we use here at CQLX to ensure the people and animals here are safe and happy and the sales are successful.”
Teachers and parents also have the opportunity to attend a FREE Teacher PD & Career Influencer Networking evening at CQLX on 23rd of March at 4:30 – 7.30 pm. The event will link them with industry professionals and provide lesson ideas for incorporating agriculture and beef production into their classrooms.
Click the following link to register for the PD and networking session: https://bit.ly/3HYJP25
