Australia's peak sugarcane body, Canegrowers, has created a new curriculum-aligned teaching resource to educate students on sugar cane production from 'paddock to packet'.
Called One Plant, Many Products, students Australia wide will have the opportunity to learn about the processes involved with growing, harvesting, and processing sugarcane.
The resource was developed through the Canegrowers membership of the Primary Industry Education Foundation Australia, and is available for teachers and students to access online.
Canegrowers chief executive officer Dan Galligan said the new resource would build on the existing work members and district staff were doing in schools throughout the north.
"It is just as important for students in Melbourne or Sydney, for example, as it is for kids in sugarcane regions to learn about our industry," he said.
"Through lesson plans incorporating video and other resources like worksheets, the new package tells the story of sugarcane from the paddock to the packet.
"Importantly too, as we all work towards a future involving more renewable resources, the many other possible uses of sugarcane are also explored."
Mr Galligan said the sugarcane industry continues to play an important role in many New South Wales and Queensland communities- employing around 23,000 people and generating $2 billion of export earnings each year.
PIEFA CEO Luciano Mesiti said the new Canegrowers resource would target years five to eight science, design and technology and geography curricula, and would provide a fantastic introduction into cane production, milling, sugar production and product value-adding.
"With borders opening up and summer holidays around the corner, more students will be travelling and seeing sugarcane fields while on holidays," My Mesiti said.
"We hope that next year their curiosity can be satisfied by teachers taking up and using this resource right around the country."
The Canegrowers partnership with PIEFA will continue into 2022, and will include new opportunities to support both industry and education outcomes.
"Agriculture offers many different and rewarding careers and we are keen to open the eyes of students to the endless opportunities," Mr Galligan said.
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