Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan has a long track record of speaking to university and college students about building public trust in agriculture. Since 2017, different faculty members at the University of Saskatchewan and SaskPolytech have requested lectures, presentations and workshops to better prepare agriculture and food students for their professional careers. The main goal of these discussions is to allow students to understand what Canadians think of the agriculture industry and how we can collectively build a society that is more food literate.
Over the past eight years, we have followed how consumer interest in food has changed. From concerns around responsible farming and ranching practices to food inflation, questions typically rise with those who do not have a trusted source to speak with. This is precisely why we wish to give those starting their agriculture or food careers more confidence to speak about what we do and more importantly, why we do it. We also want to establish Farm & Food Care and Canadian Food Focus—and farmers—as resources for people to get answers to their questions about farming and food.
Classes with agriculture students range from an engaging lecture of a couple of hours to a more in-depth two-week class series. The idea behind each of these is to allow students to understand where consumers may have questions, then practice giving responses. This opens up students’ minds to how they would interact with questions they receive in the future, effectively practicing conversations before they occur and becoming comfortable discussing difficult topics.
We have received feedback over the years from students who are now in the workforce. Their response is one of thanks for shedding the light on how they can build trust in agriculture in their own way. We will continue to partner with these institutions to ensure our future agriculture leaders have the tools they need to inform consumers.