On June 2, Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan was thrilled to spearhead “Meals From the Farm,” a project to bring lunch, snacks and activities to help students and teachers learn more about how food is produced in our province.
Working with Agriculture in the Classroom Saskatchewan, we identified 6 partner schools: Thomson Community School in Regina; Dr. Brass Elementary School in Yorkton; Westview Public School in Prince Albert; Caswell Community School in Saskatoon; Mayfair Community School in Saskatoon; and Jack Kemp Community School in Lloydminster. In total, 1,679 students and staff received a resource bag with agricultural activities and learning aids, along with a hot lunch of egg/bacon/cheese on English muffin with small milk, granola bar and beef jerky snack to all staff and students.
FFC SK also prepared 9 new ‘Farming 101’ online learning courses that include 26 lessons on 73 different topics and 17 quizzes. These courses will serve as an overview of Saskatchewan’s major agricultural sectors for teachers, students and consumers, well beyond Meals From the Farm. We also worked with 8 sponsor groups and four chefs/home economists to prepare 9 new cook-along videos showcasing Saskatchewan-grown products.
On the morning of June 2, FFC SK hosted a virtual tour of an egg barn and live Q&A session with almost 300 participants. In addition, FFC SK and Agriculture in the Classroom Saskatchewan presented an agriculture game show at Caswell Community School in Saskatoon to get kids fired up about farming just before their Meals From the Farm lunch arrived.
We received considerable media interest in Meals From the Farm, with stories running on at least 14 different news outlets. A sample of our coverage is from Global Saskatchewan TV News: Kids from across Saskatchewan learn about agriculture through ‘Meals from the Farm’
Almost 400 students took part in our online agricultural trivia challenge following Meals From the Farm. Six different classrooms won the top score in their school and were rewarded with a $300 gift card as a prize.
Meals From the Farm in Saskatchewan schools was a great success in 2022. One teacher explained, “I think that together we are creating a crop of gardeners and farmers who know where their food comes from.” Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan is looking forward to our community Meals From the Farm event in cooperation with the Saskatoon Friendship Inn on September 29. Stay tuned!
Led by Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan and presented by the Saskatchewan Egg Producers and Chicken Farmers of Saskatchewan, Meals From the Farm is a collaboration with Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association, Canola Eat Well, Cargill, Saskatchewan Wheat Development Commission, SaskOats, Grain Millers, SaskMilk, SaskPork, SaskFlax and Agriculture in the Classroom Saskatchewan.