Yesterday I joined the team at Harper Adams University College to see a training programme piloted for trainee teachers on food and farming. Around 50 PGCE students from Manchester Metropolitan University were treated to a number of classroom workshops followed by a tour of the college farm to see dairy, pigs, sheep, poultry and arable enterprises as part of a 'REAP' (Rural Education Action Programme) - an enrichment day for trainee teachers. The aim is to equip the students with a full understanding of the possibilities and the benefits that food and farming offers for teaching and learning, as well as practical guidance on how to set up farm visits and other hands on activities. Once fine tuned, the aim is to roll the programme out as part of the legacy of the Year of Food and Farming through the LANDEX network of land-based colleges to bring it within reach of every teacher training institution in the UK. The scale of ambition is impressive, with the goal of training half of the 18,000 trainee primary school teachers every year once the course is established. Impressive indeed! The potential outcome from this project is far reaching; not only could it ensure the next generation of teachers have a much better understanding of how to integrate food and farming into the curriculum, but it will also help to shift negative perceptions around the industry within schools, leading to potentially better quality students coming forward to take up careers in the sector. My thanks to Barrie, Alex, Nicky and the rest of the team at Harper for their dedication and commitment to this project - I wish them well.
Friday saw me visiting Jimmy's Farm to meet with the man himself. When I arrived, I shouldn't have been surprised to have to cross three barbed wire fences and temporary gates to chase after Jimmy on his dumper truck, oblivious to his pursuers. It was classic Jimmy's Farm stuff! When I finally caught up with him (he was busy putting the final touches to his new Butterfly House), I got twenty minutes of empassioned rant before getting a word in about the importance of children understanding about insects' role in pollinating crops and about the various programmes he is busy making at the moment - "Jimmy's Farming Heroes", due to air on primetime BBC1, Sundays 9pm from July, as well as a Horizon series on world farming and a special on the GMO debate (as a scientist, he is 'pro' by the way). I then got a tour of his new feature on the farm to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Darwin publishing 'The Origin of the Species', which will support yet another TV programme he's making. We laughed about the old tree trunk which has been carved to illustrate evolution (ape, neanderthal man, homo erectus, homo sapiens) - I asked where 'homo obese' with his burger was, and I was shown a seat carved into the trunk where 'fat man and his burger' can sit! As we sat and talked, I was struck by the genuine passion for farming that oozes from Jimmy's every pore, and that what he lacks in farming experience he makes up for in enthusiasm. What's more, he walks his talk - his farm is CEVAS accredited, hosts many school visits every year and is taking part in Open Farm Sunday. With over 3 million viewers a week, Jim is a genuine public ambassador for farming and I am delighted that he has been so keen to support the Year in as many ways as he has. His new series will see him reach entirely new audiences and expand the public debate about the future of farming in a balanced way. We spoke at length about the importance of the legacy of the Year and the good news is he wants to play an active part in it - more news to come on this in due course... I left feeling renewed, infected with Jimmy's contagious enthusiasm, as well as carrying a bag full of goodies from his farm shop. I can heartily recommend his Ipswich Blue sausages and his black treacle cured Saddleback bacon - stellar! (www.jimmysfarm.com)
I was very pleased to attend an event last Thursday at Berners Hall Farm, the Co-Operative farm near Chipping Ongar, Essex to see children from both a local primary school as well as a London school help them pass the landmark of 5,500 children to visit Co-Operative farms as part of their 'Farm to Fork' project. We took a film crew along for the day to capture the action and footage will be released shortly. Activities included; seeing shire horses ploughing alongside a 6m Vaderstad drill sowing peas, hunting for earthworms, making pizzas from the farm's flour and making smoothies as part of a healthy eating lesson. The kids had a great time, as did all the big kids too! My thanks to Sarah, Karen and the rest of the Co-Op team for all their hard work in creating fantastic opportunities for all those children.
Primary children in north Cumbria have been visiting local farms recently to find out more about how food is produced. They have had ice cream tastings at Gelt House Farm, Brampton, yoghurt tastings at Hill Top Farm, Ivegill and cheese demonstrations at Low Wood Farm. Warwick Bridge. Most of the children also had a chance to take part in an ‘auction’ courtesy of Harrison and Hetherington Ltd, and some will also meet the local vet or have a go at milking. An army of volunteers, dedicated to educating young people about farming and food production, gave up their time and normal work to take part in the project. ‘We have such tremendous support’ says Ian Powley of the Cumberland Agricultural Society ‘we could not have undertaken this project without them’. From the 14th to 24th April over 900 children from north Cumbrian primary schools visited farms in the area to learn why farming matters and to understand where their food comes from. Using six volunteer farms over 8 days, the Cumberland Agricultural Society set up this project, taking classes from local schools, to demonstrate different aspects of farm life and food production to the children. The project fits with the aims of the society and is being run with the support of the Cumberland Building Society, the Government Office for the North West, the NFU and many other local businesses. The project finishes with a competition to win cash prizes for schools, and which will be displayed at the Cumberland County Show on Saturday 19th July, and judged by Lord Rooker of DEFRA.
I had to do a double take yesterday whilst walking through St James Park in London on my way to a meeting. I turned the corner to find an immaculately maintained allotment (a la WWII) installed in the centre of the park as part of a Dig for Victory exhibition by the Cabinet War Rooms.
Everything was there including the Andersen shelter, but was amazed me was how many people were taking an interest in the immaculately labelled vegetables growing in neat rows. The exhibit was quite literally stopping people in their tracks - it just goes to show how much interest there is out there. Thanks to the Cabinet War Rooms for doing us a favour! As if that wasn't enough, I was in Covent Garden later in the evening and came across another allotment smack in the centre of the shopping area - bizarre! It was attracting a lot of attention too. You just wouldn't have seen this a few years ago, but the interest in growing food is back on the agenda big time. Very encouraging - and before you start panicking that everyone starts trying to be self-sufficient, let's be realistic here. What are the chances of that these days - I think more importantly it signals a growing interest in food, which can only be a good thing for farming.
Driffield Agricultural Society is to help children find out more about the origins of their food and what it takes to grow vegetables.
The society is one of the organisers of a competition among primary schools across Hull and the East Riding which will help them discover more about where their food comes from and the importance of a healthy, well-balanced diet. The 'Young Growers Challenge' has also been organised by representatives from Bishop Burton College, Birds Eye, Waitrose and the East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Aimee Dawson, fieldsman for Birds Eye, has liaised with schools and made sure they have everything they need to get growing, from technical advice to pots and seeds. Thirty five schools from across the region have been given seeds to grow peas, potatoes, carrots, onions, lettuce, courgette, radish, broad beans and tomatoes. The seeds can either be grown in pots or gardens on the school's premises, or at Bishop Burton College if the school prefers. The final of the competition will be held at the Driffield Show on July 16, when entrants must supply a basket of their vegetables and a poster they have created depicting the growing experience.
It was a real privilege to take part in the inaugural Essex Schools Food and Farming Day at Writtle College last Thursday. The weather did its best to dampen enthusiasm but the 3000 children and 250 farmer volunteer farmers taking part were having none of it. The event was a joint venture by a coalition of organisations led by Essex Agricultural Society and the NFU county branch, with support from Essex County Council. Split into 4 separate zones to give children a wide experience of food, countryside, technology and farming primarily through hands-on activities, the day was extremely well organised, well attended and well worth it! The feedback from children and teachers has been excellent (despite the monsoon!) and congratulations are deservedly due to the team behind it, led by Jim McCauley and Guy Smith. It was a fantastic example of what people can do when they come together and I sincerely hope that all involved will see it as a venture worth repeating in future years.
I was delighted with the outcome of our 'Seeing is Believing' day in the West Midlands with our Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales. We brought together a group of business leaders from companies including JCB, Jaguar, McDonalds, Sodexo, Musgrave with leaders from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, NFU, Federation of City Farms, LANDEX and FACE for a day examining the various ways of giving children the opportunity to understand about where their food comes from. The day was led on our behalf by Guy McCracken, Chief Executive of Co-Operative Retail with Sir Don Curry chairing a lunchtime session with the Prince. The day was split between visits to Garden Organic at Ryton, Coventry City Farm and Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School in Coventry. Most of the organisations present were prepared to offer support, especially in-kind, to schools in support of this agenda. Follow ups are now taking place to ensure they do!
I was, frankly, humbled by what I heard at a meeting of all the regional chairs for the Year towards the end of last week. There is so much going on at the grass roots level to take real pride in - so much commitment, enthusiasm and local ownership that I hold a huge amount of optimism for the legacy of the Year. There is so much momentum to build on that I am truly confident we can keep on seeing improvements in children's reconnection with food and farming into the future through more and more people making connections at a local level. I will be spending a good deal of time over the summer term travelling around the country visiting and taking part in a wide range of local events and initiatives in support of the Year. I'm really looking forward to it and will enjoy reporting back on what I've seen as I go about. I also think it's really important to thank people for their contributions. That is why we will be hosting a special event for real 'local heroes' who have made outstanding contributions to the Year at the Royal Show in July. We will also be launching an evaluation project in the summer to try and capture the full breadth and scale of the Year, in particular at the grass roots level - this will give us all a real sense of the 'sum of the parts'.
I am delighted that our Patron, HRH The Prince of Wales has agreed to join us for a visit to Cardinal Wiseman Catholic school in Coventry next Wednesday, 22nd April. We will be joined by industry and business leaders from locally and nationally as well as councillors, policymakers, government officials and NGOs. The purpose of the day is to see an inspirational example of how to integrate food and farming within a school environment and discuss how this could be achieved across all schools. I'll report back on how the day went next week.
I was delighted to see the number of organisations, schools and families pledging to get involved in the Year pass 20,000 at the end of last week. Two days later and we're nudging 21,000. There is such a heartening amount of enthusiasm around giving children crucial first hand experiences.
Wallace and Gromit fans out there may have also seen Shaun the Sheep from the same studio, Aardman Animations. It's currently on Childrens' BBC and attracts a massive audience, young and old. If you've not seen it do, it's hysterical. We're delighted to have teamed up with Aardman to organise a 'Find the REAL Shaun' competition starting this Easter holidays. The idea is that kids and families go out looking for the lamb that most closely resembles Shaun, take a photo of it and enter the picture on the special website we've set up. The winner will receive a priceless original still from the series, signed by the director. We're expecting an army of kids taking part in this - we have already warned the National Sheep Association! It should provide families with a great reason to visit the countryside and have some fun at the same time. The competition runs until the 7th June, so it should help swell the numbers for Open Farm Sunday too.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the launch of a joint project between NIAB and Cambridge University Botanical Gardens in support of the Year. The pair are inviting local schools to get involved in growing activities, planting seeds and following them through to the end crop. There was wide representation there on the day and interest from local radio too. The politicians were out in full force with David Howarth (the local MP), James Paice (Shadow Agriculture Minister) and Jenny Bailey (Mayor of Cambridge) to name a few.
The highlight of the day was the look on the children's faces - they were clearly having fun and learning at the same time.
Can I thank the teams at NIAB and CUBG for their commitment to this project and wish them well in its future success. This is just exactly the kind of local, grass roots initiative that can inspire children to take an interest in where their food comes from through their own first hand experiences. See my space on the YFF site for pictures (link on the 'Introducing myself' entry)
I attended the launch of the South East region's Year of Food and Farming website by Jim Brathwaite, the chair of SEEDA (the RDA for the South East) on Friday at Plumpton College. Can I thank the team for organising such a great event - I was really impressed with the level of commitment and thought that had gone into creating what I am confident will become a really valuable communication tool for food and farming with consumers, schools, children and parents in the region. You can visit it at www.yoffse.org.uk or follow the link from the megamap on the national site at www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk. There was a great gathering of agriculturalists and educationalists present to get a test drive of the site, so I was dismayed by comments from a number of farmers in the room that any effort to host school visits should be met with financial compensation for the time spent and facilities added. I'm afraid I simply don't buy that; first, if you are thinking of hosting school visits then you should know the cost implications beforehand and either accept these with a happy heart or seek to establish paid for visits as part of your farm's enterprise mix. Second though, and ultimately more importantly, is that whilst we are calling for school farm visits for the immediate benefit of children, there is serious longer term benefit of these same visits to farmers. These children are our consumers of the future and getting them onto farms is part of developing their 'agricultural literacy' - an understanding of where food comes from, which ultimately leads to them valuing food more as part of their lifestyle. As farmers we have to see the long term return on investment in the relationship we have with our next generation of customers - it's crucial to our survival.
Last Friday, we launched a free tomato growing kits scheme with help from B&Q for 5,000 schools. We have had an overwhelming response - within four working days, the entire allocation had been snapped up. This is an incredible response and tells me two things: first, there is a huge latent demand out there from schools for getting kids involved in growing food. This scheme in combination with the existing British Potato Council's 'Grow your own Potatoes' scheme and the Garden Organic scheme, along with the new RHS 'Campaign for School Gardening' means that at least 750,000 children, or nearly three quarters of all primary schools, are now taking part in growing food this year, - an outstanding achievement! Second, it tells me that the local, regional and national networks that have developed and improved during the course of the Year have become an incredibly effective means of spreading the word about opportunities to our target audience. The B&Q scheme was promoted solely by email through these networks , so thanks to everyone out there who played a part in making the promotion of this scheme such a success. Needless to say, B&Q are delighted too and we are now going back to them to see if we can have more kits - there's so clearly a demand. Watch this space!
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