Agricultural
12 March, 2024
New equipment for ag
Gilgandra High School’s (GHS) agriculture department has recently purchased a new John Deere 3038E Tractor.
Gilgandra High School’s (GHS) agriculture department has recently purchased a new John Deere 3038E Tractor. A great boon for the school, the machine will be of great help to both students and staff for the purpose of education and field maintenance.
“[The tractor] will allow us to do more,” commented GHS agriculture teacher Teresa Standing.
“We can now get better equipment for both our pasture efforts and ag plots.”
The new tractor was purchased to be used alongside the ag departments new ‘Mini-Till Disc Seeder’, acquired as a way of seeding and fertilising in a more sustainable way with a focus on minimum tillage, according to Mrs Standing.
“The old tractor did not have enough horsepower to allow us to use the new disc seeder, so we were able to buy the new tractor.”
In alignment with recent trends towards sustainable farming practices, the disc seeder implement drills, seeds, fertilises, and finishes the seedbed in one pass. Reducing passes over the land minimises compaction and saves on machinery hours and fuel. “It will demonstrate to the students how important it is to look after our soils and avoid continuous cultivation, which leads to soil structure breakdown and inevitably leads to erosion issues,” stated Mrs Standing. “It’s a beautiful piece of machinery.”
Purchased alongside the tractor was a four-way loader, designed to move large loads conveniently. The loader and forks soon to arrive will allow a teacher or farm assistant to load and unload grain, feed animals, move materials in bulk and much more.
Students can use the tractor to sow seed, while the loader will remain locked, and its use will be reserved for the teachers and aids to comply with government regulation.
The new tractor will be employed as a part of ag classes this year, and feature heavily in the departments maintenance of ag plots and pastures. Moving forward, the emphasis in agriculture will be on sustainability, and GHS new machinery is a key part of the migration away from conventional, constant cultivation into modern sustainable practices.
