Facilities and resources at Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute
Opened in 1990 at Camden, 60 km south of Sydney, EMAI's 1600 hectares is part of the original land granted to agricultural pioneers John and Elizabeth Macarthur in 1805. Today, it consists of:
Veterinary Laboratories
The veterinary laboratories at EMAI are a critical ‘first line of defence’ in providing early detection of any emerging or exotic farm animal diseases. The ISO9001 accredited laboratories provide specialist research and diagnosis in the fields of animal pathology, virology, microbiology, immunology, and parasitology. The diagnostic laboratories are NATA accredited and include secure PC3 facilities and PC2 animal houses.
Plant Disease Laboratories
Other EMAI laboratories undertake plant disease diagnosis and research for the early detection, reduction and eradication of harmful plant pests and diseases, especially exotic plant pathogens, as part of a state-wide network. Facilities include quarantine glasshouses, greenhouses and insectaries including the capability of producing eight million sterile fruitflies a week for the control of fruitfly outbreaks. The diagnostic laboratories are NATA accredited, and access to PC3 facilities.
Other research facilities
The heritage-protected agricultural land of EMAI has major state-of-the-art dairy facilities (the research site of the $10M+ national Future Dairy project including a fully robotic dairy) and pig research facilities (including a Computer Tomography Scanner).
Conference facilities
A conference room at EMAI is equipped with comprehensive multimedia facilities and can accommodate up to 120 people. The old granary at Belgenny is available for social and educational functions for up to 200 people.
Education
The Department of Education and Training uses the resources of Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute and Belgenny Farm for its schools education program with more than 6,000 students visiting the Centre each year.
Extension Officers
Specialist and extension officers based at EMAI are integrated into state - wide, industry - related programs. Each provides technical and financial enterprise management advice to commercial producers and extension support for research and development. more...