Programme educates schoolchildren on the vital work of British farmers
The NFU Education programme has reached more than 500,000 students across the nation this year, the farmers’ union has revealed.
More than 250 ambassadors have spearheaded the Farmers for Schools initiative since its inception, visiting primary and secondary schools across the country to help children learn about the vital work British farmers and growers do to produce safe, tasty and nutritious food, and how that goes hand in hand with caring for the land and environment.
The ambassadors have visited more than 50 schools since September, delivering assemblies on farming to more than 7,000 schoolchildren, an increase of over 300 per cent since last year.
NFU Education’s work also extends beyond traditional classrooms with its live lessons, including Science Farm Live, Harvest Thali and The Lamb Diaries, reaching more than 360,000 students across 5,000 classrooms.
These lessons integrate agriculture with the national curriculum to teach students through their science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.
Farming and STEM
NFU president Minette Batters said: “I am extremely proud of the work delivered by NFU Education, resulting in some incredible achievements this year. The sheer number of students engaged in our Live lessons demonstrates the enormous appetite from children and teachers to teach and learn STEM subjects through the lens of agriculture, whether they come from a farming background or not, and we have dozens more Farmers for Schools booked in for the next school term.
“It’s really heartening to see so many schools wanting to engage with us and provide their pupils with such a fantastic learning experience which helps them gain a greater understanding of where their food comes from.
“As we celebrate these successes, it’s good to reflect on the power of education to excite children in food and farming and pave the way for a future generation that really values, understand and champions British agriculture.”
Farmers for Schools ambassador Evan Taylor said: “Farmers for Schools appealed to me because I wanted to share my passion and experiences in farming.
“Alongside this, I also want to try and get young people into farming to help to future-proof farming in Britain and the NFU programme gave me a platform to do this.
“I gave an hour-long talk to 200 Year 10 and 11 students and it was great to see them asking questions and showing a great interest in getting into agriculture as a career.
“Ultimately, it’s about starting a conversation. I’m looking forward to doing more and spreading awareness about how important British farming is.”
