Today the Year 7/8 CCC class hosted ex Timboon P-12 students and local dairyfarmers, Sam and Peter Doolan, prior to the group’s field trip to Doolan Farms to learn about sustainability and the use of technology. Sam and Peter described the importance of healthy soil in their business, the relevancy of pulling carbon back into the soil and the role that it played in growing healthy plants. They outlined the use of a carbon calculator that indicated that methane produced by cows was the biggest producer of gas in their system but described that trials in place on biochar and seaweed were looking promising. Peter described various sources of energy available in farming systems such as biodigesters, solar, wind, battery, hydrogen and electricity and how these energy sources were constantly evolving. The technology in use on farm was described and included GPS on tractors for sowing and spreading fertilizer, a variable speed drive on the vacuum pump, and an Arcoflex monitoring system that allowed Sam and Peter to monitor pumps, gauges and levels in an electronic farm management system. Students learnt about their land management scheme that included mole and collection drains to eliminate run off and nutrient loss, a dam to drought proof the property, multi crop species to feed the cows and soil, trees and shelter belts to improve biodiversity and water management using a three pond system. The CCC class was very fortunate to have this expertise shared in our classroom, thanks Sam and Peter. Comments are closed.
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March 2024
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