Connecting farmers with students creates understanding.
With fewer and fewer urban dwellers having a direct connection to the farm, most city folks have little knowledge of agriculture and food production. As a result, issues such as animal welfare, pesticide use, and water quality can become hot-button topics for farmers and city people alike. A pilot project, Friend a Farmer, ran in three schools during the 2011/2012 school year, and sought to bridge that gap. Farm & Food Care partnered with the Farmers Feed Cities program on the pilot.
“The purpose was to provide a learning opportunity for students by directly connecting them with farmers,” explains Heather Hargrave, program coordinator with Farm & Food Care.
Friend a Farmer is based on a program in the U.S. called Provider Pals. Montana logger Bruce Vincent, who spoke at the Farm & Food Care Annual General Meeting several years ago, started this popular U.S. initiative. Provider Pals was established in 1998 to help educate school children on logging, and now is a nation-wide cultural exchange program that links urban and rural classrooms with farmers, ranchers, miners, loggers, oil field workers, and commercial fishermen.
“His talk was very inspiring, and our Board asked us to explore doing something similar here in Ontario,” says Hargrave.
The Friend a Farmer pilot project was set up in three schools, a Grade 11 biology class in Oshawa, a Grade three class in Kitchener and a Grade six class in Windsor. Each class was connected to a farmer in their region.
The farmers and classes were left to decide how and where to connect. At Windsor, a Wheatley grain farmer connected with the Grade six class, and visited the school several times and corresponded by email. The class visited the farmer in June, where they learned first hand about crops, equipment, and farm activities. During the field visit, Hargrave realized that the pilot was a success.
“The first moment came when the farmer lifted up a handful of topsoil and asked the students what it was. They all said soil, not dirt. The students understood that the soil contained microorganisms and organic matter and that it was much more than just dirt,” says Hargrave.
Also at the field visit, the students were able to view a pesticide sprayer, and they didn’t even question the need for using crop protection products. Hargrave says the discussion wasn’t about whether pesticides were good or bad, but on the need for their use in controlling weeds.
“The farmer asked if the students would like to hand-pick the weeds in his field. None did,” says Hargrave. “It is this type of first hand knowledge and experience that made the program so valuable.”
The Oshawa area farmer connected with the Grade 11 biology class during their genetics sessions. He brought in a semen catalogue to illustrate the real-world application of their theoretical genetics.
A husband and wife farm team was connected to the Grade three Kitchner class. They used email to discuss specific subjects, send photos, and answer questions on their mixed grain and livestock farm.
Follow-up evaluations were conducted and all participants gave it a big thumbs up. All were willing to do it again. The Pilot is currently being evaluated by Farm & Food Care to determine the best way to move it forward. Eight to 10 teachers had expressed interest at the start of the 2012 fall school year, and finding farmers to connect with them isn’t expected to be a challenge.
Hargrave is currently looking at how to best coordinate the program with other farm education programs. She hopes that the program will gradually grow in 2012/13.
“We have the structure to carry it forward, and are now just working on logistics and co-ordination,” says Hargrave.
“The students participating were really well prepared for the farm visits. They had really intelligent questions. It wasn’t just ‘does chocolate milk come from brown cows’?’ Because they had already connected with the farmers, the students had the knowledge to go beyond the basic questions,” says Hargrave.
Contact:
Heather Hargrave
Phone: 519 837-1326
Email: [email protected]
Websites:
http://www.farmfoodcare.org/
http://www.providerpals.com/