Cotton supports program for students learning about ag

CA's Alec Macintosh with GRASS students Matt Tomlinson, Elly Byriell, and Harry Page.

Cotton Australia was proud to recently support a program helping students towards science careers in agriculture.

The University of New England's Growing Regional and Agricultural Students in Science (UNE GRASS) program develops and delivers education programs that inspire students towards science careers, and helps create high-calibre science graduates who are business-ready.

The program includes an Industry Placement Scholarship that showcases to Years 11 and 12 students the broad range of exciting careers supporting the primary industries. Students attend a camp and five-day industry placement, and then report back on the scholarship experience. The industry placement provides an opportunity for scholarship students to participate in and discover the work and careers in an agricultural sector, and to complete activities beyond what can be offered at school.

Cotton Australia's involvement in the program involved supporting and providing joint funding for the Five Day Industry Placement through the Gwydir Valley CGA and Upper Namoi CGA.

This year, the Gwydir Valley had two students and the Upper Namoi had one student take part.

Cotton Australia’s northern New South Wales regional manager, Alec Macintosh, gave the students a broader insight into the cotton industry by explaining the activities of Cotton Australia, and organised visits to the Cotton Research and Development Corporation, the Australian Cotton Research Institute and Cotton Seed Distributors.

Read more about the UNE GRASS program.