Year 11 agriculture opens careers to students off farms

Studying agriculture at year 11 opened a career in agronomy for a student who did not grow up on a farm.

Georgia Moody, a graduate agronomist in southern New South Wales, took agriculture from year 9 to year 13 at Feilding High School before studying agricultural science at Lincoln University. “Having agriculture not as a standalone subject at school is going to be really detrimental to attracting people like me who aren’t originally off a farm,” she says.

Students compete for places in subjects to fill their credits, so it will be hard to bring them back for years 12 and 13 if other subjects take their time at year 11.

She says farmers are budgeting, managing staff and mentoring.

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