Taking the sugarcane story to schools

CANEGROWERS is urging schools across Australia to take a look at a new curriculum-aligned teaching resource on the sugarcane industry.

“It is just as important for students in Melbourne or Sydney, for example, as it is for kids in sugarcane regions to learn about our industry which generates $2 billion of export earnings each year and employs 23,000 people,” CANEGROWERS CEO Dan Galligan said while in the Cairns Region.

“Through lesson plans incorporating video and other resources like worksheets, the new package tells the story of sugarcane from the paddock to the packet. Importantly too, as we all work towards a future involving more renewable resources, the many other possible uses of sugarcane are also explored.”

Called One Plant, Many Products, the resource has been developed through the CANEGROWERS membership of the Primary Industry Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA) and is ready for teachers and students to access through the Primezone website.

“This new CANEGROWERS resource targets the years 5 to 8 science, design and technology and geography curricula with a fantastic introduction to cane production, milling, sugar production and value-adding of the product,” PIEFA CEO Luciano Mesiti said. 

“The sugarcane industry plays a vitally important role in many communities in New South Wales and Queensland. There are many opportunities for young people to get involved in the industry.”

“This resource builds on the work many of our CANEGROWERS members and district staff have been doing in visiting local schools, including here in the Cairns Region,” Mr Galligan said.

“With borders opening up and summer holidays around the corner, more students will be travelling and seeing sugarcane fields while on holidays. We hope that next year their curiosity can be satisfied by teachers taking up and using this resource right around the country.

“We know that schools and teachers are expected to meet the requirements of the national curriculum which is why we have worked so hard with PIEFA to design this resource to be ready-made to do that while also including industry insights.”

CANEGROWERS partnership with PIEFA will continue into 2022 with new opportunities to support industry and education outcomes.

“Agriculture offers many different and rewarding careers and we are keen to open the eyes of students to the endless opportunities,” Mr Galligan said. 

“A number these opportunities were recently shared in a video published by CANEGROWERS to mark National Agriculture Day (#AgDay) last week and its theme of Choose your #AgVenture.”