23 May 2025
The Year 12 Agricultural Systems class spent a day touring facilities around the Roseworthy area. The tour started at Australian Grain Technologies which boasts the largest plant breeding facility in the Southern Hemisphere. AGT is focussed upon wheat and barley breeding and engages in all areas of plant production, from genetics and the development of new varieties through to milling flour and testing its suitability for producing breads, pastas, noodles and beer. High-tech, environmentally controlled greenhouses permit the acceleration of plant growing from seed to grain four-times faster than in the field. The quality control laboratory tests the quality of flour for protein and water content as well the physics of the dough (rheology) to determine which flours produce the desired outcomes.
We then toured the University of Adelaide’s Roseworthy Campus. This boarding college has a strong animal sciences research programme with focus on cattle, horses, sheep, alpacas, pigs, chickens and aquaculture. Our tour guide was a highly informative third year Veterinary Sciences student who took us through some of the facilities including the teaching laboratories, animal surgery and morgue. Our tour finished at Emmet’s Agricultural Machinery where they boys enjoyed learning about, and climbing all over, the latest John Deer tractors, seeders and harvesters.
In summary, our boys gained valuable insights into the science behind modern agriculture and how research and development is driving innovation in this important sector. Thank you to Dr Sarah Giles for accompanying the trip, Stuart Milde (AGT), Sasha Champion and Satori Edgeler (The University of Adelaide), and Troy Julyan (Emmetts) for making the day possible.
Dr Steven Polyak
Lead Agriculture Teacher
