Junior Landcare

Sustainable agriculture & Natural Resource Management awareness & education

Junior Landcare

Sustainable agriculture & Natural Resource Management awareness & education

Building our Future -

LLCI017-006

The issue

In the Corowa District Landcare (CDL) area, there are numerous primary schools with students from farming families.  CDL could see that there was a need and an interest from the local schools to engage the students and increase their awareness about sustainable agriculture and natural resource management.

The solution

Through the support from Murray Local Land Services – Regional Capacity Building Program and funding from the Australian Governments National Landcare Program, CDL were able to start a Junior Landcare Program for students in primary schools, including small rural schools across the Federation Shire area.

 Corowa District Landcare formed a partnership with Petaurus Educational Group, through their “Community Education Program”, to provide support and expert advice from their Executive Officer Owen Dunlop and Project Officer Stacee Bell to assist with the program.  CDL also employed project officer Sally Hughes, a former school teacher, to run the Junior Landcare program.

After contacting 10 local primary schools, all were keen to participate in the Junior Landcare activities.  CDL hosted 4 workshops for students in 2017. Two workshops were designed to increase the knowledge and awareness of the natural environment, which included native plants, wildlife and local threatened species. One of these workshops also investigated wetland/water health, by studying the macro invertebrate at the site. The other two workshops were sustainable agriculture based, where students participated in making compost, learning about healthy soils & vegetable crop rotation. Also, learning about the role of pollinators in crop production. The sustainable agriculture workshops were hosted at the Corowa Community Gardens.

Students from participating schools then produced a form of media to show what they had learnt from the Junior Landcare experience. Among the items that were produced, was an information calendar of local native frog species and a seasonal planting/management calendar for planting vegetable crops.

The impact

In 2017, Corowa District Landcare has engaged 10 primary schools, with 173 students participating in natural resource management and sustainable agricultural activities.  CDL hope to continue the program into the future, so that we can help develop the skills and knowledge of our future farmers and community members.

Key facts

  • 10 local primary schools in the Corowa District Landcare area engaged
  • 173 students participating in natural resource management and sustainable agricultural activities.
  • Strong partnerships

Project Partners