SPECIALIST agriculture teachers have gathered in Brisbane for what will be the last Food, Fibre and Agricultural Educators Conference after the State Government axed funding to the flagship program.
About 100 teachers from Queensland and interstate attended the conference, which was run under the now defunct School to Industry Partnership Program (SIPP).
The AgForce facilitated program was designed to give educators the most up to date knowledge of agricultural industries to pass on to school children in a bid to get them to understand the role of agriculture and consider careers in the industry.
But the conference is another causality of the $181,000 annual funding for the SIPP being cut after it had been running for 14 years.
Queensland Ag Teacher’s Association president Hardy Menser said educators relied on programs such as the SIPP to work with industry to ensure the best information was taught to kids.
Mr Menser said the cut would impact on the future of agriculture in Queensland.
”The effect on the industry probably won't be seen for a number of years, in fact we're preparing the next generation,” Mr Menser said.
“With a large amount of jobs being lost around Queensland and changes in agriculture in recent times, teachers’ abilities to prepare the next generation are really hindered if this program stops. Teachers work from the toolbox of resources we have... and to lose SIPP, it really is a major weapon in our arsenal.
“To be able to adequately prepare our students for future generations it's going to be a hard thing to replace.”
