Australia's leading provider of specialised training to rural industries

The NSW Department of Primary Industries is introducing proactive measures to limit the impact of COVID-19 at Tocal College campuses and through our industry training programs.

Tocal have adopted social distancing measures including cancelling public events. This includes the cancellation of the Tocal College graduation ceremonies and the 2020 Tocal Field Days.

Current advice from the NSW Government for students, their parents/carers and affected staff is:

• Any confirmed case of COVID-19 will be excluded until they are medically cleared to return.
• Close contacts of a confirmed case of COVID-19 will be excluded for 14 days since last contact with the confirmed case.
• All travellers to Australia will be required to self-isolate for 14 days.
• Students and staff who have returned to Australia and have shown no symptoms during the 14-day home-isolation period are able to return to training or work.

NSW Health has processes in place to identify any close contacts of cases confirmed in Australia. A close contact is a person who has spent significant time either face to face (15 minutes) or in an enclosed space (2 hours or more) as someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. It is advising these close contacts about not attending work, school or early childhood and childcare services.

Consistent with current guidelines, students and staff who are unwell with respiratory illness should remain at home until symptoms resolve. 

In accordance with our current practice if any student becomes unwell we will implement our infection control guidelines and follow the advice provided by NSW Health as appropriate.

For more information, visit the Health NSW website.

Tocal Virtual Farm is an online interactive inside look at our farms, from 360 VR video to soil maps to agricultural history. Teaching guides and workbooks to support learning. Created by our schools program with input from farm managers and DPI staff.

At the 40th Annual Tocal Beekeeper's Field Day a very special book was launched. Honey and Pollen Flora of South-Eastern Australia is the most significant book for beekeepers in decades. The book describes over 500 flowering plant species found in South Eastern Australia. Each species is mapped, and their nutritional value to bees is rated. The book has taken its author, NSW DPI’s Dr Doug Somerville, many years to write, and at 680 pages, the publishing process took close to 12 months. Beautifully designed, filled with full colour photos of every species, and bound in hard cover, this book will be a treasured tool for Australian beekeepers for decades to come. The book is available to be preordered, and orders will be shipped when the book is in stock in November.