AN interstate field trip by a group of University of Adelaide agricultural science students has confirmed the need for undergraduates to spend more time on-farm, applying their scientific knowledge in practical environments.
The excursion last month took Waite campus students to Brisbane over the course of week, with stop-offs in a broad range of agricultural production areas.
The field trip also offered a far greater range of agricultural environments than could be experienced in South Australia alone.
"In New South Wales we saw the impact of the water shortage in the Murray at Leeton in the Riverina, looked at bread wheat varieties at Wagga Wagga, and witnessed the potential of GPS for experimental purposes at Condoblin," lecturer Tony Argent said.
"We also saw watermelon, sugarcane and pineapple production, the Australian Wheat Collection at Tamworth and the changing face of agriculture through corporate farming.