Archived News

Paula Matthews 20th November 2007.

The Year of Food and Farming

The Year of Food and Farming was launched in September and will run until July 2008.  It is an industry-led initiative proposed by Farming and Countryside Education (FACE) aimed at helping young people learn more about how food is grown and produced and how it reaches the consumer.  It is hoped that during this year young people will reconnect with food, farming and the countryside and that this will result in an improved understanding of the food chain and the role played by farming.

There are many farmers who already go into schools to give talks, or lead farm walks, whilst others are just becoming involved through The Year of Food and Farming. The aim is to involve all children and young people in all schools in England, so I can imagine that this will actually take more than one year!

Farmers can attend the Countryside Educational Visits Acreditaion Scheme which provides help and advice to farmers and growers to ensure that schools are guarenteed safe and worthwhile visits to all kinds of farms.

Laurence and I attended the CEVAS course last year and Manor Farm has received full acreditation.

According to the requirements of each school group, we can provide an insight into 21st Century farming, look to the future of farming locally and globally or compare current farming systems with those of the past. We provide a pre visit for teachers and a risk assessment although we would also encourage teachers to undertake their own risk assessment.

Farm visits can offer almost endless opportunities to link with National Curriculum subjects in all Key Stages.

We welcome contact from schools to hear what topics are being studied in school and how they could be consolidated by a visit to our farm.

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