General News
5 December, 2025
It’s beginning to look a lot like harvest...
At Longerenong College we love it when the man in red and white comes to visit us with gifts. Not the one from the North Pole, the CASE IH representatives from O’Connors CASE IH.
Each year CASE IH provides us a CASEIH Combine Harvester to harvest the crops on the Longerenong College farm. This year it’s a brand-new CASE IH 8260.
Applied Precision Agriculture Manager, Guillermo Sierra praised the machine’s advanced capabilities: The CASE IH 8260 is a magnificent machine. It’s at the cutting edge of agricultural technology. The Field Ops Precision Ag Technology feeds live yield information to our data system used to train our agriculture students.
While CASE IH provide the harvester, O’Connors provide the servicing, pre-delivery and setup.
Heather Chapman emphasised their commitment.
“O’Connors are committed to providing on-going support to our clients," she said.
"Our goal is to keep people in the Wimmera Mallee going. If there’s an issue, we’ll do everything possible to minimise downtime and get them back up and running quickly."
Marketing and business development co-ordinator, Brad Barber highlighted the importance of the partnership.
"Harvest is always an exciting and stressful time," he said.
"As Longerenong College is run by Skillinvest, a not-for-profit organisation, the success of our crops directly supports and empowers the College’s operations.
"Support from partners like O’Connors CASE IH plays a vital role in the success of Longerenong Agricultural College.
"They understand how important the College is to the future of agriculture and the growth of young people involving themselves and building careers in the sector; in Australia, and especially here in the Wimmera. Both O’Connors and Longerenong College play a pivotal role in the Australian agricultural landscape."
Celebrating our scholarship recipients
We are fortunate to have sponsors that offer scholarships to our students to assist with their tuition and residential fees each year.
The scholarships these valued partners provide ensure the development of the next generation of agriculture leaders.
Recipients for 2025 were:
BASF: Noah Hildebrand
MPH: Eliza Mounsey
Lester Mitchell Foundation: Louise Cooper
Victorian Wheat Research Foundation: Charlie Adams
Rotary Club Horsham: Lexie Heinrich, Mason McEwan
GRDC: William Allan, Elise Bibby, Sienna Langdon. Ben Smith
Freemasons Foundation: William Virgo
Applications for 2026
2026 looks set to be a big year at Longerenong College with new student applications delighting management.
“We’ve made a concerted effort to go and talk to people face-to-face this year at Field Days and Career Expos," Mr Barber said.
Nothing beats talking to prospective students and their parents one-on one and answering their questions.”
Mr Barber indicated there is still time to apply for those that want a career in agriculture.
“We’re already at 70-80% capacity for 2026 ‘living on campus’ students, but there is still space for those that have been focused on their exams over the last couple of months.”
There are no ATAR score requirements for enrolment, applicants go through a selection and suitability process.
“These days many of our students don’t come from farms, they just want to be in the agriculture industry," Mr Barber added.
For those thinking that Longerenong College might be a good option for them, they can call Brad to have a chat or book a tour on 03 53622222.
