YORKTON – Recently students from throughout the area again gained some direct education on where their food comes from – something increasingly critical as direct ties to food production agriculture is being lost.
The young students learned more about the source of their food by attending the ‘Food Farm Program’ known locally as a ‘Pizza Farm’ experience. Yorkton actually pioneered the idea of bringing students out in the field to learn about farming and food production when a ‘Pizza Farm’ concept was launched a number of years ago, and the program founders should be duly proud as the idea has spread in varying forms to locales across the province.
The concept is simple enough, industry partners cooperate to set up a series of stations where students get to learn about farming and food, most with a hands-on learning element.
Students attend the event in spring to learn about the planting season, then return in the fall to learn about harvest.
It might not seem like a big thing for those in the ag sector, but for urban youth, many who may never have set foot on a farm, seeing what an oat plant looks like, and associating that plant with the oatmeal they eat for breakfast is a big deal.
Or the importance of coming to recognize all the fields of yellow flowers they see on a weekend trip to the lake in summer is what eventually becomes the oil their French fries are cooked in.
Such things are small steps in the youth’s journey to better understanding that food does not just miraculously appear on store shelves, but actually comes from the efforts of hard working farmers dedicated to producing food.
So, ultimately, the Food Farm program helps students learn about where their food comes from through actively participating in growing the ingredients for familiar foods like pizza, burgers, and fries, as well as how machinery operates, a bit about soil health, and even a chance to pet a sheep.
It’s a day of education away from the classroom students are likely to remember well.
But, should the food farm experience be broadened?
While we are aware youth have lost a connection to the farm, that also applies to many adults in the modern Prairies. Less and less people in general spend any time on a farm. Most don’t even grow a garden these days.
Now we know the ‘Crops of the Parkland’ initiative by Tourism Yorkton is a popular stop with travellers wanting to better understand what crops they see out the window of the car as they drive across the Prairies.
And we know Saskatchewan Open Farm Days – in its second year – was again a popular event initially launched by Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan in partnership with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and Tourism Saskatchewan as a way to foster a deeper connection between Saskatchewan’s residents.
So would hoping one additional day at the food farm, and inviting the public at-large to take part, be the natural next step? It seems like an idea that might just be another educational opportunity – this time for the consumer.
