The British Potato Council (BPC) is to adopt schools as part of a campaign designed to educate children about potato production.
The Adopt a School initiative is an extension of the Grow Your Own Potatoes project launched in 2005.
BPC marketing manager Catherine Lange is keen to get farmers involved in the initiative. She said: “Our aim is to get every potato grower in the UK to adopt a school near them as we want farmers to have regular contact with schools in their area.
“It’s all about getting children to understand how potatoes are grown and where they come from, while it also provides an opportunity to talk about the fact that potatoes are a healthy food item.”
The project will also form part of Defra’s Year of Food and Farming, which will take place in schools during the next academic year and is intended to show children where food comes from.
The BPC Grow Your Own Potatoes project - now in its third year - encourages school children to plant their own Rocket seed.
“We now have over 4,000 primary schools taking part, which is up from 1,100 schools who grew potatoes last year and that number has increased a lot because of the good work already done by many potato growers in schools,” said Lange.
The BPC hopes the Adopt a Schhol initiative will boost the number of links that farmers are forging with schools.
Lange said: “We have created a farmers’ pack, written for the BPC by educational experts, which brings together all our different resources to help farmers give presentations to children on potato production either in the classroom or by hosting visits to potato fields, for example.”
The pack, which can be downloaded from the BPC website, includes lesson plans and quiz ideas, focusing on all aspects of potato production from planting through to storage and retailing.
“We will be monitoring which schools have been adopted and we aim to produce more information to help farmers involved with schools throughout the year,” Lange added.
No comments yet