VEG Education, Werribee South, host Australian Food Education day

VEG Education and Velisha Farms hosted 65 teachers on Thursday for its second professional development day of the year, the Australian Food Education Conference.

The day explored topics including Melbourne's food bowl, key concepts in food studies, food citizenship, food sovereignty and sustainability, industry technology, food supply and security, industry careers and more.

Velisha Farms managing director and third-generation farmer Catherine Velisha said she hoped to help educate teachers and students the nuances of the supply chain to have access to greater knowledge for better-informed decisions.

"I'm not someone that wants to change the world, but people who want to change the world need to know what they want to change and information is a really important part of that," she said.

"When we go back to the food supply chain, farming and agriculture, I don't think there's anything more important to ask questions about.

"Young people are far more altruistic, they don't just want jobs, they want to change the world, and to do that is through food systems."

VEG Education started its training three years ago, and aims to provide educational providers and students with insights into agriculture and access to industry leaders for its specialised program.

VEG Education trainer Jodie Caldwell said young people often were unaware of the career opportunities available in the food supply chain.

She said jobs included entomologists, irrigation designers, plant breeders, greenhouse managers, plant pathologists and more.

"There are also international opportunities available for students, importers and exporters," she said.

VEG Education trainer Mark Pulin said he noticed two major factors, taste and experience, boosted student engagement.

VEG Education and Velisha Farms will host 75 school excursions through Agriculture Victoria grants in the next 12 months.

Ms Velisha said they hoped to double their reach in 2024.

"The education part is really exciting and what I love doing is linking food studies to food growing," she said.

"We deliver VET programs in secondary schools, we link to food technology subjects and we show the behind-the-scenes of the supply chain.

"We have 400 students nationally doing that and we want to double that for next year, we want to do three or four of these national teacher [events] next year."