Students to get lesson on agriculture

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/10/2004 (7726 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OAKBANK Elementary School student Michelle Vaillancourt says she can think of one big reason why agriculture is so important.

“Lots of food comes from farms,” says Vaillancourt, 10.

Vaillancourt is one of the nearly 500 students at the Kindergarten to Grade 5 school who will be taking part in the Made in Manitoba Breakfast, which will take place at the school in Oakbank on Oct. 21. Agriculture In The Classroom Manitoba and the Oakbank Credit Union are supplying the breakfast that will include pork sausage, flax pancakes, canola margarine, maple syrup and milk.

Gwen MacFadyen, principal of the school in the growing community just east of Winnipeg, says the event brings home the importance of provincial agriculture to a new generation of children. She says fewer and fewer students come from a farming background, and it gives children the opportunity to learn about how things work in the agricultural sector.

“It’s great for students to have an understanding of how food lands on the plate, and appreciate it,” she says.

Agriculture In The Classroom Manitoba is a non-profit organization that has been promoting agriculture awareness among students since the early 1980s. The breakfast program is in its third year, says executive director Johanne Ross, who adds that many students have little knowledge of the agriculture industry in Manitoba.

“We have a huge job to do,” says Ross. “Young people have completely lost touch of where their food comes from.”

Ross says because agriculture is an important part of the provincial and global economy, students need to learn about where food comes from and the opportunities available to them for a career in the field. She says most students have the wrong idea about a career in agriculture, and don’t realize there are opportunities as research scientists, bankers and marketers.

“They have a picture (in their heads) of a farmer standing there in coveralls with a pitchfork,” she says. “There’s so much more than they even realize.”

The program visits schools across the province, and Oakbank is the first of five schools having a breakfast this school year. The event celebrates locally grown food, and children are introduced to local producers who help to cook the food on site.

Students Aaron Horanski, 10, and Clifford Wilkinson, 9, say they are both excited about the upcoming event. Wilkinson has lived on two farms; one outside Oakbank and on his dad’s farm in England. He sometimes helps out with planting, but doesn’t use the machinery.

“I like going for rides on all the tractors,” says Wilkinson.

Vaillancourt says they’ve been learning a lot about farming in the past few years in school, and they have discussed how historic tribes grew their own food. All three students admit they have never had Manitoba maple syrup or flax pancakes, but that they are looking forward to a new experience.

“It sounds good, but I’ve never had it,” says Horanski.