Agriculture meets business at Grammar

A NEW agricultural entrepreneurship course is set to challenge and engage young minds at Ballarat Grammar.

The AgriFutures Startup Business Entrepreneurial Learning in Action program will run as an elective for Year 10 students, who will be given real industry problems to solve through the creation of their own businesses.

Providing an immersive entrepreneurial startup environment, the program will see students meeting innovators and entrepreneurs of Australian agriculture, researching and generating ideas for business, and finding solutions to national industry challenges.

Ballarat Grammar Agriculture Teacher, Matt Dickinson said course will enhance the students’ previous learning, and strengthen their connections and interest in agriculture locally.

“Changes in technology, markets and climate mean the agricultural sector today must be just as innovative, or more innovative, than other industries such as the manufacturing or service sectors,” he said.

“The students will gain confidence and resilience, realising that if they take action and are persistent, they can have an important impact on a large scale.”

The course concludes with a pitch competition where students present business ideas to a judging panel.

AgriFutures Australia Managing Director, John Harvey is excited to have Ballarat Grammar on board.

“This is a perfect opportunity to immerse secondary school students in different ways of approaching national rural issues and expand their horizons in terms of what a career in agriculture in the future, could look like,” he said.

Developed by practical education designer, Startup Business, the course has been partly funded by the Federal government’s AgriFutures Australia and will be offered at six other schools across the country.