Test Your Sustain-Ability

Play. Sustain. Gain.

Welcome

to

James Ruse

Agricultural High

School

The James Ruse School Farm has been

looking for a manager who can run our farm

Effectively…

Efficiently…

and most importantly of all…

Sustainably.

Countless have tried before and failed…

…doomed to be forgotten in the relentless

march of history…

But those who achieve victory…

…will win eternal fame and glory…

NEXT

DO YOU HAVE

WHAT IT

TAKES?? NEXT

You have two weeks to prove that you’ve

got what it takes to successfully manage

the farm and secure your place amongst

the school’s farming heroes.

You will be asked to make a series of

decisions.

Click on the choice you make to find out if

your decision was correct.

Click the NEXT button to continue to your

next task.

NEXT

Remember to choose the most

sustainable option available.

Record your point score on a

sheet of paper and then check

the scoreboard at the end to

see how you went.

Good luck…and happy farming!

NEXT

Day 1

Your first task is to prepare the

vegetable plots for the first crop by

using a tillage tool for soil preparation.

Day 1

Do you use :

A chisel plough A rotary hoe

You Chose…

The Chisel Plough Hooray! You chose a ‘low tillage’ practice. The structure of

the soil remains intact, with the aggregates still present.

The soil is soft and aerated. Any hard pans have been

broken up with compaction being reduced. There won’t be

too much erosion, so organic matter is kept to return

nutrients to the soil. The crop is planted in light, airy soil.

The right choice!

Points: +2

NEXT

You Chose…

The Rotary Hoe Oh dear…the soil no longer has structure –

aggregates have been shattered and soil clumps have been broken up. There is now a high chance of

erosion. To make matters worse, there is heavy rainfall over the next week and most of the soil from

the plots is washed away.

Points: -2

NEXT

Day 2

It has been raining heavily and the soil is very

wet, but you wanted to plough an area of land

for your crops.

Do you:

Go ahead and plough when wet

Wait until the soil is dry

You Chose…

To Plough When Wet After you have finished ploughing, you realise that the

soil has hardened into a pan – it’s impossible to plant

anything here.

You must spend time and resources to prepare the

land yet again.

Points: -2

NEXT

You Chose…

To Plough When Dry The soil is ready for planting. It’s well aerated and not too hard and compacted. Your seeds

will be able to grow and spread their roots easily to take in nutrients from the soil. Your

crop is on its way to becoming a success. Well done!

Points: +2

NEXT

Day 3

It’s time to choose which variety of sweet corn

to plant!

Which variety do you use?

Normal variety (Early Chief)

Disease resistant variety (Bandit)

You Chose…

Early Chief Oh no! The corn crops were growing well but

were attacked by a sudden outbreak of rust.

Most of your plants have been infected by this

contagious fungal disease and died.

Points: -2

NEXT

You Chose…

Bandit Phew! Your choice of using a disease resistant

crop means that the plants haven’t been

severely affected by the sudden outbreak of

rust.

Points: +2

NEXT

Day 4

It’s time to choose your row spacing as you

start planting your corn seeds. You have to

decide the best way to increase yield.

Do you:

Plant more seeds closer together

Plant fewer seeds but space them out

You Chose…

To Plant More Seeds Closer Together

You’ve got more plants growing, so you’ll get a larger harvest right? Unfortunately, you haven’t considered that

planting your seeds so close together means that they have to compete with each other for nutrients, so the quality of your harvest will be compromised. What’s more, planting

them so close together makes them more susceptible to the spread of diseases and pests like rust and Heliothis.

Points: -2

NEXT

You Chose…

To Space Out Your Seeds

Even though this means that you’ve got less plants growing, they don’t have as much competition from each other so each plant can produce good, high-

quality corn. Not only that, with spaced out plants, air flow and circulation is improved so the spread of

diseases like rust can be reduced.

Points: +2

NEXT

Day 5

You’ve decided to fertilise your newly planted

crop to encourage growth.

Do you use:

Organic fertiliser (Dynamic Lifter)

Non-organic fertiliser

You Chose…

Dynamic Lifter YAY! Three cheers for you! Your crops have

slow release of nutrients and the soil is very fertile from the rich organic material which means your plants will grow quicker. Well

Done!

Points: +2

NEXT

You Chose…

Non-organic Fertiliser Your plants are growing but the soil is becoming

infertile and harder to grow on! It has poor

nutrient levels. Your plants die anyway from poor

soil. Remember to think SUSTAINABLE and what

is best for the farm! You have to re-fertilise the

soil and this has cost your time and money.

Points: -2

NEXT

Day 6

It’s time to start irrigating the crop. Remember

that you have a limited supply of water, so you

need to choose an efficient system.

Do you use:

Drip Irrigation

Surface Irrigation

You Chose…

Drip Irrigation Although you have to spend more money to get the system set up and all the pipes laid down, the water is delivered individually to

each plant and efficiency is increased. You’re not wasting water, and so you’re reducing your costs in the long run. Good choice!

Points: +2

NEXT

You Chose…

Surface Irrigation Although you don’t have to spend as much

money setting up your irrigation system, you find that this method has led to waterlogging,

salinization and deep drainage problems. Your crop is starting to suffer, and you’re going to

have to spend money trying to fix the soil. Tough luck!

Points: -2 NEXT

Day 7

Now it’s time to add final touches to the soil to

increase production.

Do you choose to:

Mulch

Not Mulch

You Chose…

Mulching Mulch is organic material used to cover weeds

and protect the moisture from leaving the plant. By choosing this sustainable choice,

your plants grow quicker with less competition.

Points: +2

NEXT

You Chose…

Not to Mulch Are you sure? This method is cheaper BUT your

plants have less resistance against weeds and in a hot climate your crop will quickly

lose moisture and perish. Your level of production is lower, you make less money.

Points: -2

NEXT

Day 8

Oh No! It’s rust season and your crop is under

threat from those red brown fungi, but you’re

short on time and money.

Do you:

Leave the plants

Buy expensive fungicide and spray

You Chose…

To Leave the Plants Even though you’ve saved money and time, the fungal disease has spread rapidly throughout your crop and destroyed most of your plants. Unfortunately, this means you’ve lost most of this season’s harvests. Better luck next time!

Points: -2

NEXT

You Chose…

To Spray Fungicide Even though you had to spend a lot of time

and money, your crops are safe from rust and are continuing to grow well. You’ll probably earn most of your money back from your

successful harvest. Good job!

Points: +2

NEXT

Day 9

You successfully planted a year’s corn crop.

But what about next year? What do you do with

the empty land?

Do you:

Leave it there

Rotate with other available land, planting

legumes and grasses

You Chose…

Leave As It Is It has no use anyway, right? WRONG! This land

is very important and should be allowed to regenerate for planting next year. You come back months later and find it is infertile and

eroded. Not good.

Points: -2

NEXT

You Chose…

Rotate and Revegetate YES! By rotating the land, it allows the land to

recover and regain nutrients for next year whilst also preventing erosion. You find the land fertile and reusable for next year and

the next.

Points: +2

NEXT

CONGRATULATIONS!

After successfully harvesting your sweet corn

crop and managing your vegetable plot, it’s not

over yet!

Now it’s time to move over to the animal

enterprise...

NEXT

Day 10

You only have a limited number of paddocks on the farm, but you have to both graze cattle and grow crops on the land you have.

Do you:

Annually rotate paddocks between grazing cattle and growing crops

Allocate certain paddocks specifically for either grazing cattle or growing crops year after year

You Chose…

To Annually Rotate Your Paddocks

Good job! Annually rotating your paddocks between grazing cattle and growing crops means that your soils doesn’t become to deficient in nutrients from growing crops, nor does it become overgrazed or compacted

from the cattle. It’s worth the extra work organising and managing everything after all.

Points: +2

NEXT

You Chose…

To Allocate Paddocks Specifically

Even though you can get off with less organising and managing paddock rotation, you find that after a few years,

the paddocks that have been used for continuous crop growing have become deficient in nutrients, and the

paddocks that have been used for cattle grazing are in fact overgrazed and now have hard, compacted soil from the animals’ trampling. Maybe the extra organisation would

have been better!

Points: -2 NEXT

Day 11

You’ve now chosen the area of land where your

cattle will be grazing.

Do you choose to adopt:

Continuous Grazing

Strip/Rotational Grazing

You Chose…

Continuous Grazing Even though you don’t have to worry about the

hassles of moving cattle from place to place, the pasture has a higher risk of becoming overgrazed,

the soil is compacted from the cattle trampling and certain internal parasites are starting to

infect your cattle.

Points: -2

NEXT

You Chose…

Strip/Rotational Grazing It takes more work, time and effort moving the cattle

from one area to another, and you’ve spent more money purchasing the portable fencing system, but

your pasture and soil are healthier, and you’ve broken up the life cycle of those pesky internal parasites, so

your cattle are healthier too!

Points: +2

NEXT

Day 12

It’s a busy time of year and you’re preoccupied

with lots of other jobs, but you need to decide

whether or not to prioritise your remaining

tasks with the cattle.

Do you choose to:

Vaccinate

Not vaccinate

You Chose…

To Vaccinate You had to spend more time and money buying

the vaccine and carrying out the vaccinations,

but now you can rest much easier knowing

your herd is protected against many diseases.

Points: +2

NEXT

You Chose…

To Not Vaccinate Well, you have saved a lot of time and money so you could get other jobs done, but a few months later, your cattle are starting to get infected by

various diseases. You need to spend more money buying medicine to cure them. Perhaps it would

have been better to just get the vaccinations done and over with beforehand.

Points: -2

NEXT

Day 13

Bad news! You’re running seriously short on

funds, but you were going to buy a drenching

gun and medicine.

Do you choose to:

Drench

Not Drench

You Chose…

To Drench Your funds are almost depleted, but you’ve

managed to drench your entire herd. None of them get sick, and as a result, they grow healthily. Even better, at the end of the year, you reap high

profits from the good quality beef carcasses.

Points: +2

NEXT

You Chose…

To Not Drench You’ve managed to save the remaining funds you

have, but later on your cattle are afflicted by various diseases. Some cattle die, others have

reduced growth due to illness. Your profits plummet at the end of the year because your beef

carcasses aren’t all that good in quality. Better luck next time.

Points: -2

NEXT

Judgement Day

< 8 points: Good try. Unfortunately, this job just doesn’t seem right for you. Instead of considering a career change, though, try again next time!

10 – 18 points: Good work! You are highly commended for your efforts. Keep working hard and you’ll definitely become a top farm manager.

20 – 24 points: Well done! You’ve demonstrated your impressive sense of judgement. You’re almost at the top!

26 points: Full marks! Amazing! You are the elite of the elite, demonstrating shrewd judgement and thorough knowledge of sustainable practices. Congratulations on becoming the next Farm Manager of James Ruse. You can join the ranks of other legendary farm managers throughout the school’s history. Be proud!

More about

JRAHS

The Real James Ruse

Here at the James Ruse Agricultural

School Farm, we do in fact carry out

heaps of sustainable practices to help

our enterprises run more efficiently and

productively without negative impacts

on the environment.

Acknowledgements

The Real James Ruse cont…

Some of the things we do include:

• Place wood chips for mulch around our peach and orange orchard trees

• Cycle products between enterprises, e.g. chicken manure is used as organic fertiliser on our vegetable plots.

• Timed drip irrigators are used on our orchard trees to reduce water wastage

• Hay is used as mulch on vegetable plots

• Annual crop rotation is carried out with class vegetable plots

Acknowledgements

The Real James Ruse cont…..

• Kikuyu grass is allowed to grow around orange and peach trees for mulching purposes

• Pasture rotation is carried out with our grazing sheep and cattle

• The school uses disease resistant crops

• The school regularly carries out practices such has vaccinations, drenching and utilises strip grazing with the cattle

• Every year, we rotate areas of land between grazing pastures for the animals and vegetable plots for the students.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

We thank the respective owners for these

photos:

• http://www.freefoto.com/preview/

• http://haysvillelibrary.files.wordpress.com/

• http://www.arts-wallpapers.com/

• http://1.bp.blogspot.com/

GOLD SILVER PLATINUM

BRONZE

WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE SPONSORS OF THE

2011 CREAM OF THE CROP COMPETITION