Our VCE Agriculture and Horticulture students have been busy learning about successful innovations in agriculture over recent weeks. As part of their studies, under the guidance of their teacher, Mr Jayden Voorzaat, the group attended an excursion to Mont De Lancey to examine the paddocks and identify dung beetles that help to recycle the nutrients back into the soil, improve soil structure and quality of the pasture and also help with pest control.
Year 12 Jade student Sophie Morris wrote about the excursion:
Our trip to Mont De Lancey was a great opportunity to consolidate the content we have been learning in the classroom. We are studying the 22 species of dung beetles that were initially introduced into Australia as an innovation to control the buffalo fly's impact on the Australian livestock industry. In our studies we learned that eight of the 22 trialled species successfully settled in Australia and have since acted as an effective biological pest control. On our excursion, we were lucky enough to find three of these introduced species, including the Onthophagus Taurus, Euoniticellus Pallipes and Aphdodius Lividus.
