SESSION CHAIR | Theme 3: Luciano Mesiti, PIEFA CEO
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. ​

Fraser Border ​
AgTech Engineer and Founder | integratedSTEM
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BIOGRAPHY: As a robotics engineer, agricultural researcher, and STEM educator, Fraser possesses a deep passion for all things AgTech. He has collaborated with industry leaders like John Deere, Caterpillar, and JBS Foods to solve complex agricultural problems. Fraser’s commercial venture aims to automate red meat processing, focusing on an inefficiency costing Australia $89 million annually. Fraser was awarded Australia’s Science and Innovation Award for Young People in Agriculture, which allowed him to use augmented reality to improve efficiencies in beef processing plants. In addition to his industry work, Fraser founded integratedSTEM, an education start-up that inspires students to learn, and empowers teachers to teach, AgTech. With a team of engineers, researchers, and educators, integratedSTEM has provided thousands of students across Australia with authentic AgTech experiences through practical, hands-on activities. Fraser works alongside this team to support the integration of technology to enable schools to teach authentic AgTech within the agricultural curriculum.

KEYNOTE ABSTRACT
TITLE: A Career in Ag – More Than Meats the Eye
This keynote explores Fraser’s research journey developing technologies to resolve the inefficiencies that threaten the sustainability of Australia’s red meat industry. From an educator’s perspective, Fraser will then present on the opportunities of young people to innovate in agriculture using technologies, provide insight into how to best engage students in AgTech education and provide practical tips of how to get started successfully in delivering AgTech in schools.

Gullara McInnes​
University Student / Drone Pilot
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BIOGRAPHY: Gullara is studying a dual degree of science and law at JCU (James Cook University) in Cairns. Gullara uses drone technology to map traditional land, inspiring young indigenous women to pursue careers in STEM along the way.

KEYNOTE ABSTRACT
TITLE: Don’t Dream it, Drone it
I remember someone telling me that there was only a small percentage of women in STEM and that when ‘women and drones’ was googled, completely irrelevant pictures were found. My drone club went from 3 to 16 to 30 over the years. I went from flying small drones to mavic pros and have my eyes set on getting licensing to fly bigger drones. I used to fly my drones over the back paddock but now fly them over the amazing Australian landscape. In summary, a drone changed my life.

Scott Graham​
Head of Agriculture | Barker College
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BIOGRAPHY: Head of Agriculture at Barker College in New South Wales, Mr Scott Graham is changing the way agricultural science is taught at secondary schools, by developing unique programs to engage students and emphasise the positive difference agriculture makes to society.
Mr Graham draws on 12 years of teaching experience to educate students about the importance of agriculture in Australia, and the employment opportunities in this scientific and business-driven field.
Under his leadership, student enrolments in agriculture at Barker College have tripled over the past seven years. The school has more than double the number of Year 12 agriculture students than any other school in Australia. Around 30 per cent of these students have gone on to pursue agriculture-related degrees at university level.

KEYNOTE ABSTRACT
TITLE: MIA – the Story of Metropolitan Students Missing In Agriculture
Agriculture at a secondary school level faces a historically low number of enrolments amongst metropolitan students in Australia. At the same time, tertiary enrolments in agriculture-related degrees face a similar issue. This is despite the significant number of highly-skilled, high-paid professional jobs in urban areas in the sector leading to many going unfilled. Meanwhile, many metropolitan students and parents show a deep interest in the provenance of their food and fibre and having careers of purpose. How do we bridge the gap and improve the attraction of a career path in agriculture? This research and presentation outline the problems of, and proposed solutions to improve agricultural education in Australia and as a result, the number of professionals with a career in the sector.