News Item

TRAINING FOR CLEANER GREENER FARMING

March 7, 2011

Training for smarter, cleaner, greener farming is a focus of courses at ECG McMillan which operates rural studies centres at Warragul and Leongatha.

Courses have a strong practical focus giving participants opportunity to apply their skills to real farm settings and access specialists with knowledge in the latest industry practices.

ECG offers courses from Certificate to Advanced Diploma level tailored to people working in rural industries, farm managers and supervisors, new entrants and trainees. It also has an increasing number of secondary students studying agriculture as part of VET in Schools or VCAL which gives them practical skills and a taste of working in rural industries.

ECG works closely with industry and has developed several course-firsts to meet specific skill needs including new courses for the tomato, potato and goat production industries.  A successful Diploma in Sustainable Agriculture is giving new entrants and existing farmers access to cutting edge information and hands-on practices to take their enterprises to a new level.

ECG’s horticulture programs continue to expand with new streams added to the Certificate III course in 2011 to enable people to specialise in specific career areas including wholesale nursery, and parks and gardens. The first Certificate in Horticulture (Landscape Construction) will be offered at the Warragul campus in response to industry demand for people with skills in landscaping. This complements the existing range of horticulture courses including production horticulture, ornamental horticulture and arboriculture.

A feature of all ECG agriculture and horticulture courses is the focus on Sustainability to broaden the skills and understanding of ECG graduates in concepts such as renewable energies, organic farming, biodiversity, erosion control and more.

ECG’s aim is also to train people to think beyond traditional farming methods and understand the importance of the supply chain from the farm gate right through to the consumer’s table. Diploma courses incorporate consumer attitudes and trends as well as marketing, business and financial management.

This is a vital aspect of training the current and future generation of farmers to respond to increasing demand from consumers wanting information on where and how there food has been produced and what is in it.

ECG courses focus on developing very clear career pathways so that people can move from certificate to diploma or advanced diploma level courses and advance their careers into management or senior level roles.


NB: ECG’S rural studies campuses are located at:

Warragul McMillan campus – 71 Korumburra-Warragul Road, Warragul.
Southern Gippsland Campus – Nerrena Road, Leongatha

 

 
ECG Horticulture students study landscape design

For further information contact:

John Brereton
General Manager Industry Development
Community College Gippsland
Tel: 03 5622 6000
Mob: 0409 226 032
Email: johnb@ccg.asn.au