WORKSHOP TITLE: PIEFA Projects: SFIRP, Farm Safety ACE, Career Harvest
HOST: PIEFA
Ben Holmes, Project Manager | SFIRP
Ingrid Gow, Student Engagement Officer
Libby Feneley, Education Officer
Luciano Mesiti, CEO
​TARGET AUDIENCE: Secondary teachers
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
The Storm and Flood Industry Recovery Program: CREATING RESILIENCE THROUGH EMPOWERING
SCHOOL CURRICULUMS ABOUT PRIMARY INDUSTRIES CAREERS, is a project funded through the NSW and Federal Governments through the Sector Recovery and Resilience Grant. PIEFA is assisting schools in regions affected by storm and flood with teacher professional development, resource development, careers pathways and information, and Farmer Time activities, targeting both careers’ advisors and classroom teachers across all subjects involved in food and fibre education. This session will showcase this project.
Career Harvest is a one-stop shop for prospective students to discover rewarding careers. Career Harvest, PIEFA’s career portal, provides students with career options, scholarships, opportunities and more. 
PIEFA, with funding from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, has created a ready to use, easy to deliver resource package focusing on farm safety. The program is called Farm Safety ACE and it specifically targets high school students, looking at ways they can be part of the process and solution to safety issues on farms. The resource kit is being piloted in Term One of 2023 in schools across Australia.

WORKSHOP TITLE: A safe career in agriculture – teaching kids to create a safe working environment
HOST: Farmsafe Australia
Felicity Richards, Chairperson
​TARGET AUDIENCE: Primary teachers; Secondary teachers
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION: 
Tragically, agriculture has some of the worst statistics around workplace health and safety, with the highest fatality rate per 100,000 workers and the highest number of serious claims for work-related injury and disease. Farmsafe Australia is intent on changing these statistics. This workshop is an opportunity to learn how students of all ages can be taught safety in an engaging and informative manner, ensuring they can enjoy a long, rewarding, and safe, career in agriculture.​

WORKSHOP TITLE: Improving Career Development in Schools
HOST: Western Australia Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development

• Suzanne Hawkes, A/Project Manager – Workforce Capability

​TARGET AUDIENCE: Secondary teachers; Careers Advisors
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Media coverage echoes industry concerns about current primary industry labour and skills shortages. The future looks considerably bleaker. United Nations global demographic projections reveal a rapidly increasing number of countries with ageing populations – and ‘flipping’ of age demographic pyramids. By 2030, global worker shortages are expected to reach 85 million. From an Australian primary industry perspective, this is potentially disastrous. Decreasing regional populations, combined with shortages of key infrastructure (especially accommodation) and regional support services (including age and childcare) mean Australian agriculture is particularly exposed to future labour and skill shortages. While mechanisation, automation and robotics are seen by some as a solution, their adoption, operation and maintenance simply shift demands from semi-skilled labour to highly skilled professional operations and support. Increasing the numbers of young Australians entering the primary industries is critical. This is not news. It has been a clear message from industry for many years. Similarly, the need for accurate, attractive and accessible career information is vital. Anecdotal and empirical evidence (Armstrong (2011) – Improving Career Development in Schools: A perspective from the Food, Fibre and Timber Industries Training Council of WA points to several key factors:
• Student career decision making starts much earlier than many appreciate – and happens well before traditional school-based career advisory activities begin
• Parents play a key role in influencing student study and career decisions
• Very few information sources provide the bulk of career advice
• myfuture.edu.au is the primary source of career information, across Australia In 2022, the DPIRD Workforce Capability team undertook an unbiased (double blind) review of primary industry careers and related information on myfuture.edu.au.
This workshop will present findings from this study and provide options for a continuous improvement process for myfuture.edu.au, and other career information sources.

WORKSHOP TITLE: Breeding’s next crop – Developing the next generation of staff in the thoroughbred breeding industry
HOST: Thoroughbred Breeders Australia

• Madison Tims, Education and Projects Manager
• ​TARGET AUDIENCE: Secondary teachers; Careers Advisors; Industry reps

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Thoroughbred Breeders Australia (TBA) is the peak national body for the thoroughbred breeding sector.
This workshop will provide an overview of the major education and training initiatives in the thoroughbred breeding industry and discuss the myriad of career opportunities within the sector.  
In particular, the workshop will focus on two projects undertaken by Thoroughbred Breeders Australia (TBA) – the Fast Track training program and TBA Learning. 
Fast Track is a national training program developed by TBA to provide a formal pathway into the industry for people with a passion for horses. The 12-month program involves a mix of formal study and on-the-job learning, with graduates attaining a Certificate III in Horse Breeding at the end of the course. 
TBA Learning is an online education platform developed by the breeding industry to ensure that anyone can learn the fundamentals of caring for a horse. The platform hosts a number of modules – ranging from how to lead a horse, to the basics of conformation and pedigrees. Each module contains video, audio and written content so that people can learn in a way that suits them best.    
Using TBA Learning, workshop participants will get the opportunity to learn a specific skill relating to horse husbandry.

WORKSHOP TITLE: Shifting Gears – education resources to improve safety of young people in agriculture
HOST: National Centre for Farmer Health | Deakin University School of Medicine
Dr Jacqueline Cotton, Senior Lecturer/Researcher Rural Health
​TARGET AUDIENCE: Secondary teachers
WORKSHOP FLYER: Access more information via THIS FLYER (PDF download)
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Shifting Gears is a suite of teacher-led school-based resources designed improve the farm safety behaviours and culture of young people living and working in Agriculture. This is a unique program, bridging the gap between agriculture and horticulture studies and the national skills program. It demonstrates the broader context of agricultural safety in rural Australia through relatable content specifically for young people. What is the workshop? National Centre for Farmer Health is proud to showcase Shifting Gears to agricultural educators at the PIEFA Conference. This workshop will:
• Describe and highlight why farm safety is important for injury and illness prevention;
• Launch the audio visual and digital animation resources created specifically for this program, and
• Demonstrate how to utilise support resources in the classroom.
Who is it for? These resources are designed to be delivered by teachers to secondary school students in middle and senior years, living on farms, studying agriculture and horticulture, or interested in pursuing a career in this field. Four Australian industry leaders feature in the videos. They share their insights into the importance of farm safety and why young people can be empowered to make their workplace safer. The resources are designed to stand alone or support a 3 hr incursion available to schools . The Shifting Gears audio visual materials and digital animations are sequential with integrated learning activities. The flexible teaching plan and resources account for a range of learning needs, makes Shifting Gears straightforward for any school to fit into their curriculum.

WORKSHOP TITLE: Innovating in AgTech with Arduino
HOST: integratedSTEM
Keely Berther – Project Manager & AgTech Educator
Fraser Border – AgTech Engineer & Director
​TARGET AUDIENCE: Teachers (Grade 4 – 12), tertiary providers and industry who are passionate about getting students to engage and innovate in the field of AgTech 
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
This workshop is designed for educators and teachers to enhance their professional development in AgTech and its implementation in the classroom to engage and inspire students to innovate in agriculture. The workshop will be facilitated by AgTech education specialists integratedSTEM by Keely Berther (AgTech educator) and Fraser Border (AgTech Engineer).
The workshop will introduce how AgTech is transforming industry before exploring the possibilities of the Arduino platform being used in delivering AgTech education. This workshop will showcase how students can use Arduino to automate or gather data from systems to inform decisions that lead to better farming practices that enhance yield and reduce production costs. These projects will demonstrate how AgTech can be effectively incorporated into the Grade 4 – 12 classrooms by teachers of any level of technology skills.
This workshop is designed to support teachers to deliver AgTech in their classrooms by sharing practical strategies and resources that integratedSTEM has developed teaching AgTech-focused education to thousands of students across Australia.