Fast forward to now and women make up more than half of the yearly intake of full-time students.

It's a legacy that has helped the agriculture industry to grow and it will be acknowledged at a dinner on August 27.

Those who come to celebrate the milestone will arrive on Saturday afternoon and enjoy farm tours and other activities before afternoon tea.

The dinner will start at 6pm in the EA Hunt Hall and feature a strong program of guest speakers from 8pm.

Margaret Francis, one of the 1972 students, will take to the stage to talk about her time at the college and what she has done since.

Ex-student and former chair of the Tocal College Advisory Council Margo Duncan, current lecturer and ex-student Steph Teterin and ex-students Darleen Shrubb and Jess Perry will also speak about their time in the agriculture industry.

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Principal Darren Bayley said the college was a forerunner in offering women the chance to gain a qualification in agriculture.

"Women play such a critical role in not only agriculture but in our rural and regional communities. For us, as an agricultural workforce, we have seen that significant shift in the past 50 years. Women are leading the way in so many areas of the agriculture industry ... we should be looking back and celebrating that," he said.

Mr Bayley said enrolments opened to women at a time when agriculture was a male-dominated industry.

"By the 1970s we were looking at a broader base for the future of agriculture and it was in keeping with the times as well with females participating in all sorts of education and every other aspect of community life," he said.

"We had a small group in that first intake, we were starting to get some interest and it was recognised by industry that this was an important move to make."

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Mr Bayley said the number of female students gradually increased each year during the 1970s.

"By the time we hit the 80s female students were a significant portion of the student cohort and in the 90s they made up a larger portion. It has continued to increase to today where anywhere from 50 to 60 per cent of our full-time students for the past 5 years have been female," he said.

Mr Bayley said the technological advances within the agriculture industry had broadened employment opportunities and reduced the need for manual labour.

He said those things had helped to attract women to the industry.

"Women, like everyone else, see the breath of roles in agriculture. Once it was purely focused on the farms - being a farm worker or a farm manager - and these days there's a range of roles across primary industries - whether you get into research, community development, working on farm, in agribusiness, or in sectors that support farming and agriculture - there are so many roles to choose from," Mr Bayley said.