HORSHAM’S Grain Innovation Park will hosts its 50th anniversary celebrations on Thursday.
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Tours of the various facilities housed at the park will be held throughout the day, while a range of events will help people celebrate the significant milestone.
The park is home to almost 100 agricultural research and innovation staff, along with a number of agriculture-based government departments.
Park research director and centre leader Traci Griffin said she hoped the day would inform the community about the vital work that happened at the site.
“This anniversary celebration is about reconnecting with the community to show them all the amazing work that goes on here by our hard-working team,” she said.
“On average, we have about one tour a week ranging from school groups to international researchers. This day will give the Wimmera the chance to see what the park is all about.”
The site is home to the Horsham Incident Control Centre, with tours of the centre to be held throughout the day.
Forest Fire Management Victoria Wimmera District manager Glenn Rudolph said visitors would have the chance to see where all the action happens during fire season and times of emergency.
“We’ll be showing some of the new firefighting vehicles we’ve got for this season; people will be able to see that the facility is used not just for bushfires, but for all major emergency incidents,” he said.
“We will also have a fire simulation table, which is a three-dimensional way of looking at fires and how they spread through the landscape.”
Other tours include the grains research and innovation tour, which will take in the grains chemistry lab. This is where baking processes and other experiments are used to test the quality of new and yet-to-be-release grain varieties. The tour will also visit the fully automated Plant Phenomics Victoria centre.
People will also get the chance to take a look inside the Australian Grains Genebank which contains more than 300 million seeds from 150 countries.
Another drawcard will be the hand-sown Heritage Crops demonstration, featuring crop varieties grown in the region over the past half century; 29 wheat varieties will be included in the demonstration.
A range of static displays will showcase the history of the park and the wide range of work carried out from the site including animal health, biosecurity, Regional Development Victoria, Victorian Fisheries Authority and crop protection.
The open day will run from 11am to 6pm on Thursday, October 18. Guided tours will be held until 5pm.
