An innovative CD-ROM launched yesterday promises to help education in plant protection catch up with rapid growth in the crop and horticulture industries.
Queensland’s Director-General for Primary Industries & Fisheries, Dr Jim Varghese, yesterday launched The University of Queensland’s Graduate Certificate in Plant Protection on CD-ROM.
“The CD format of the Graduate Certificate Program means that workers in rural areas, both in Australia and overseas, can study plant protection from home – an enormous benefit to making plant protection more accessible to people who work in agricultural areas – those who stand to benefit most from having access to this kind of direct training,” Dr Varghese said today.
The Graduate Certificate in Plant Protection on CD-ROM was developed in cooperation with the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Plant Protection.
Speaking atyesterday's launch, Dr Margaret Schneider, Education Program Leader at the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Plant Protection and Lecturer in Entomology at The University of Queensland, told representatives of the plant industries that education has not been able to keep up with the rapid pace of industry growth.
“Plant Protection Education in Australia is also not keeping up with the increasing demands of the growing plant industries and has actually declined in recent years,” Dr Schneider said.
“The most critical problem we face is that the professionals who investigate plant problems are not being replaced by young people at a rate that can keep up with the expansion of the plant industries,” she continued.
Dr Schneider added: “Not surprisingly, the result of a decline in the field of plant protection education has been a serious lack of capacity in the plant protection professions.”
The rapid growth of the plant industries (including grain, rice, cotton, sugar, wine, nurseries and horticulture) in recent years positions them as Australia’s most valuable agricultural industry, far ahead of traditional agriculture leaders, the livestock industries.
“If the Australian economy once rode ‘on the sheep’s back’, then its future may well be climbing a giant beanstalk,” Dr Schneider told the audience.
“Despite major drought in recent years, the crop industries have grown to over $20 billion in GVP in the last financial year, a 30% increase on the previous financial year,” she continued.
The Graduate Certificate in Plant Protection CD-ROM, developed in conjunction with the CRC for Tropical Plant Protection, is an extension of the University of Queensland’s existing Graduate Certificate program, teaching the four key areas of plant protection science: diseases, insects, weeds and integrated management.
The degree uses a CD-ROM platform to maximise learning outcomes for students, particularly students in rural areas and countries with farming-dependent economies.
Professor John Lovett, Chair of the newly-announced Cooperative Research Centre for National Plant Biosecurity, also spoke at the launch about future directions for Australian plant protection education through the CRC for National Plant Biosecurity.
