Four of Australia’s leading grain growers focused on a more innovative, resilient and sustainable sector, have been awarded Grains Research and Development (GRDC) supported Nuffield Farming Scholarships for 2020.

Included in these four is Jarrod Amery from Forbes, who will research what it takes to build and maintain a successful farm business and achieve a sustainable Return on Assets Managed (ROAM).

As owner of Amery Ag, an innovative 2,300-hectare farming operation, Jarrod produces wheat, canola and barley, and manages around 4,000 ewes as part of the business’s annual livestock trading program.

“We strive to make every hectare work; earning the right to expand our business. As a young farmer myself, and with a quarter of the agricultural workforce between 18 to 35, there is a need to equip our future farmers with the tools to grow their businesses and the industry as a whole,” Jarrod said.

“On my study program, I plan to visit leading farm businesses around the world, to understand the common threads of success, including how to achieve a sustainable work/life balance, pathways to expansion and diversification, as well as how to encourage new entrants into farming.”

Jarrod will receive a $30,000 bursary to research new agricultural technologies and techniques and visit leading farm enterprises around the world on a 16-week travel program. Travelling throughout major agricultural producing countries, including China and the United States, Jarrod plans to share his findings with peers, to help build a culture within Australian farming that promotes entrepreneurship and knowledge sharing.

 

As well as celebrating culture, NAIDOC week is an opportunity to recognise the contributions made by Indigenous Australians to the Forbes community. The purpose of NAIDOC Week is to celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to foster greater understanding of Indigenous culture. As part of this year’s NAIDOC Week celebrations recognition was given to the outstanding contributions that local Indigenous people make to improve the community or to promote Indigenous issues.

The theme for this year’s celebration is Voice, Treaty, Truth. Worthy recipients for 2019 were Natasha Harris for Indigenous Person of the Year, Courtney Hodge for Indigenous Youth of the Year, Ellie Flick for Indigenous Sports Person of the Year and Raymond Thorpe for Indigenous Creative Person of the Year.

People on court-ordered communityservices at Forbes, have been working in collaboration with the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre to clean up and prepare local sites for NAIDOC events this week. The offenders have enjoyed working alongside the Aboriginal community, engaging with the culture, gaining knowledge, building respectful relationships with each other, and creating a greater unity within their communities.

This Department of Justice NSW program demonstrates community collaboration, engaging with the Aboriginal Culture, opportunity for people to gain knowledge and share their skills.

CSNSW Field Officer Peter said: “It is great for offenders to use their skills like signwriting, painting and gardening to help out where they can in Forbes.”

An Aboriginal Client Service Officer from Forbes Community Corrections was also involved in the local NAIDOC events, cooking Aboriginal foods for attendees.

Beneath breathtaking river gums, alongside a tranquil river and within a stock route that is synonymous with song lines and drovers, the scene is set for what is to be an epic long lunch next Saturday.

The meandering Lachlan River is the unique location for the exciting food event, Grazing Down the Lachlan, which will once again blow the minds of the most adventurous connoisseurs of fine food.

Consisting of multiple food stations, guests will be treated to another extraordinary experience.

Chairperson of the event, Wendy Muffet is excited to be bringing this dream to fruition once again, with a desire to support the ‘Somewhere Down the Lachlan’ Sculpture Trail.

“We wondered how we could best use such an event to capture the essence of our western rural life,” said Wendy. “The food will be authentic of the place and sophisticated in its simplicity.”

Attendees will be welcomed to country, then free to wander along a designated corridor of the reserve, enjoying portions of delicious food with a matched beverage.

Early Learning Matters Week is an exciting opportunity for all early childhood services and educators to show local politicians and the broader community the breadth of exciting ways children learn in quality play-based early childhood programs and services.

Today (Friday 6th September) Forbes Preschool is excited for Mayor Phyllis Miller to visit and see first-hand the amazing opportunities the children have at this quality early learning centre. Unfortunately, Deputy Prime Minister and Member for the Riverina and Central West Michael McCormack is busy today but he is organising a visit later in the month.

“It is really significant that all children have some kind of preschool or early education. We make it our objective at Forbes Preschool to try to ensure all children living in or around Forbes have access to quality early learning, either at our Preschool or one of the other quality centres in town,” said Amy Shine, Preschool Director.

The first Early Learning Matters Week last year was a huge success with inspiring learning activities and provocations flooding Instagram with the hashtag #EarlyLearningMatters and over 70 politicians visiting services in NSW.

Early Learning Matters Week is a chance to celebrate and share how the Forbes Preschool services make a difference in children’s lives and it also increases community understanding of how investing in your child’s early learning benefits everyone.

The Preschool will host a BBQ lunch for all Preschool family and friends from 12noon – 1pm today.

Children came with their families, with friends, with Schools and early childhood centres to Victoria Park in Forbes last Friday to take part in literacy rich activities for the annual Forbes Reading Downtown Day. The sun was shining on a park full of children and adults dressed to the theme “Reading is my Super Power”.

Children right from birth to Year 12 took part in the day, with the little ones participating in literacy activities with volunteers from Red Bend Catholic College and Forbes High assisting.

“By engaging children of all ages we hope to reinforce the message about the importance of reading with children right from birth,” said Forbes Birth to Kinder Secretary, Maree Yapp. “What a super powered reading day this has been, the costumes are brilliant, the activities are awesome and everyone has had some fun,” continued Maree.

The day was once again supported by Phil Donato MP who arrived to read to the children, and with great excitement our local Mayor Phyllis Miller also read to groups of children young and old.

The Trainee Ranger and Weeds Officer from Council joined in the day reading a book relating to animal safety with the children and Landcare and Forbes North Public School provided some practical activities using reading as a super power.

CatholicCare, Mainly Music, KDS, Central West Libraries, and Forbes SaCC joined the Schools to provide activities and engage with the community.

Forbes Shire Council provided free books to children under five who came along on the day to encourage and support reading in the home.

The 11th very real, and at times confronting mock crash demonstration held at the Parkes High School last week once again brought home a very important message to about 500 students from three shires.

The mock crash demonstration, aimed at Year 10 students from the Forbes, Parkes and Lachlan shires, shows a realistic scenario
involving a single vehicle accident and response by emergency services. It aims to improve the attitudes and behaviours of young drivers and passengers as particularly red P platers are over represented in crash statistics across the State.

“Locally, a 27% reduction has been recorded in crashes involving young drivers since the program commenced 11 years ago,” said Parkes, Forbes and Lachlan Shire Councils’ Road Safety and Injury Prevention Officer, Belinda Coe.

“We work in partnership with NSW Police, SES, and Ambulance NSW to bring home this important message.”

Central West Police District Crime Prevention Officer, Senior Constable Daniel Greef, said: “It’s vitally important to make these scenarios as realistic as possible because we want to show the young people what actually happens on roads.”

“We based this scenario off actual crashes which have happened involving young people in this area over the years.”

The demonstration starts with establishing scenes to introduce the four characters played by high school students, including Krystle-Lee McMurray from Forbes. The mock crash scenario is set up telling the audience what led to the crash, and then there is a full emergency response.

By Maggi Barnard

The Little Bang Discovery Club was launched in Forbes last week and caters to the curious, the inquisitive and the creative three to five year olds in the Forbes community. Facilitators in Forbes have been trained by the Children’s Discovery Museum to deliver this fun filled hands-on program focusing on genuine scientific enquiry.

“Thanks to the generosity of Telstra Kids Foundation and Clean TeQ Sunrise we have been able to purchase the resource kit needed to run the Little Bang Science Club program,” said Maree Yapp from Forbes North SaCC.

Forbes North SaCC and Forbes Learning Ladder worked together to bring the Little Bang Science Club to the Preschoolers room last week and a representative from Clean TeQ Sunrise was on hand to help out.

“Clean TeQ Sunrise is proud to invest in the Little Bang Science kit through our Matched funding for schools program. We know that early STEAM education is critical to developing the kind of scientific thinking that Clean TeQ Sunrise will need from our local workforce over the twenty-plus years the mine is expected to operate,” said Justine Fisher, General Manager, Government External Relations and Community Clean TeQ Sunrise.

“Maree Yapp has done a great job making sure the Little Bang Science kit is available to as many three to eight year old children in Forbes as possible via the Forbes Library, the Learning Ladder and Forbes North Public School,” continued Mrs Fisher.

Registrations are being taken now and families interested in participating can contact the Forbes Town Library on 6852 1463 or Forbes North SaCC on 6852 3008 to book a spot.