Farmers awarded education badges

Farmers across the country have been receiving the first of the newly launched Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) Quality Badges in recognition of their commitment to youth education in agriculture.

The department for children, schools and families has been working to develop the scheme, which went live at the end of January 2009 and is now available to farms providing educational visits.

LOtC hopes it will have a positive impact on the farming and countryside sector, helping more schools to undertake educational visits and allowing pupils to gain an understanding of where their food comes from, while encouraging healthy eating.

The badge brings together existing safety and quality badges to form one easily recognised and understood system for schools.

Leicestershire farmer Nick Padwick pioneered the From Farm to Fork project, in which local schools have been invited onto the farm since 2005 to find out how cereals are produced and explore the links to the food they eat.

Padwick said: “We are delighted and very proud to have been awarded the LOtC Quality Badge. We offer high-quality teaching and learning in a safe but fun environment, and this accreditation is a welcome endorsement of the hard work by everyone at Stoughton, which has helped make From Farm to Fork such a success.”

Bill Graham, head of Education at Farming and Countryside Education (FACE), said: “FACE endorses the introduction of the LOtC Quality Badge. We recognise that out of the classroom activities result in not just academic achievement, but also benefit the development, health and wellbeing of children.

“Our sector has an opportunity and a responsibility to offer more of these rich life experiences and ensure that they are of the highest quality - worthwhile investment in the whole child.”

Farms hosting educational visits will be assessed by Access to Farms (ATF) as part of the Countryside Educational Visits Accreditation Scheme (CEVAS) before they are awarded the badge to ensure that they meet a set of quality indicators and have adequate safety management systems in place.