THE NEXT GENERATION Children at Oaks Primary Academy, part of Leigh Academies Trust in Maidstone, Kent, are amongst youngsters at 600 schools across the country who are benefiting from the Farmer Time initiative. The initiative, launched by the Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) charity in 2017, links farms with schools via digital channels, and has so far given nearly 16,000 pupils a better idea of what farming is all about. LEAF is now urging more farmers to sign up for the project, which has been so successful that there is now a waiting list of 200 schools keen to be matched with their very own farmer. The number of children benefiting from the initiative has doubled since the last academic year, while the Farmer Time Impact Report for 2020 revealed that 100% of farmers enjoyed the experience, 96% will be continuing with it and 71% spoke to children about careers in farming. Oaks Primary Academy is matched with Will Evans, whose family has been farming in Wrexham since the 1700s, producing beef cattle, arable crops
FARMERS URGED TO SIGN
UP FOR FARMER TIME
and free range eggs. He described it as “a simple solution to show young people where their food comes from”. Before their first video call with Will, teacher Aoife Mehigan asked her children what they thought farmers looked like and was presented with drawings showing mainly males sporting tweed, a cap, straw in their mouth and a sheep dog by their feet. “When we Tweeted these to farmer Will, the reactions from the farming community were excellent,” she recalled. “And when they met Farmer Will for the first time on Skype, the big question was: ‘Where is your hat?’” As well as posing questions to Will, the children have enjoyed a video tour of the farm, including footage of a calf being bottle fed in the barn, Storm the horse and his cattle.
Aoife commented: “Quite a few children were unaware of different life cycles, the types of animals found on a farm and the difference between a farm and a zoo before contacting Will.” Carl Edwards, Director of Education and Public Engagement at LEAF Education, said the charity had “already seen the incredible impact Farmer Time is having on educating, inspiring and engaging children with farming, how their food is grown and where it comes from” and was hoping other farmers would sign up to help children “broaden their horizons after such a constrained time during the pandemic”. To support the initiative, sponsored by Sainsbury’s, Strutt & Parker and G’s Fresh, visit www.farmertime.org
NEW FARMING MAGAZINE FOR KIDS A new farming magazine for young people is designed “to help dispel farming myths”, according to its founder, cattle farmer Emma Smith. Launched in March, The YoungStock is a 32-page publication aimed at budding young farmers and children with an interest in farming and the countryside. It celebrates the environment, food production and seasonality and is also designed to engage children from a non-farming background. Emma, who is not from a farming background but whose ambition to work with animals developed into a career in agriculture, became the youth coordinator for The Hereford Cattle Society in 2016, where she facilitated workshops and events. “I quickly found myself enthused to complete a Masters’ Degree in Children’s Publishing and realised there was a gap in the market, and so combined my passion for farming and education,
and The YoungStock was born.” She said her vision for the publication, aimed at seven to 11 year-olds, was about “empowering the younger generation to think about the perceived issues surrounding agriculture for themselves, while engaging as many different voices as possible to showcase the wide range of careers available in the industry”. She added: “I want to shine a light on our farmers and our food producers and to provide our young readers with facts and information to enable them to make informed decisions by themselves. But it is also about encouraging reluctant readers and enticing non-farming children into our vast, knowledgeable industry.” The first edition features skidsteers and alpacas, dairy farming in Cornwall and livestock in the USA, as well as touching on hard-hitting messages around Avian Flu, owning your own farm and Brexit.
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www.theyoungstock.com
DRIVE-IN CINEMA SHOW
Young farmers across Essex have teamed up with agricultural dealer R W Crawford and Massey Ferguson to mark what would have been their annual show weekend with a Covid-secure drive-in cinema and tractor run. The pandemic forced the Essex County Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs to cancel last year’s Essex Young Farmers’ Show and switch to an online programme. Now the federation faces a significant cash shortfall following the cancellation of the event for the second year running. Undaunted, it will instead host a drive-In cinema showing Grease on Saturday 15 May, followed by a tractor run the following day, thanks to support from R W Crawford and Massey Ferguson. See www.essexyoungfarmers.com or email office@esseyfc.co.uk
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