east of england farming feature
TRANSCRIPT
8/13/2019 East of England Farming Feature
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/east-of-england-farming-feature 1/1
93Thursday,July11, 2013 www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk PETERBOROUGHTELEGRAPH
Whatdoyougetifyouputtogethermorethan4,000schoolchildren,addsomeserioussunshineandanen-gagingdayofruraleduca-tion,allenjoyedinthegreatoutdoors?
It is easy. You get beamingyoung faces that are eagerlylearning about the journeytheir food makes, and thegreat opportunitiesthe Brit-ishfarmingindustrypresents.
Thisconceptis allpart of anon-goingprogramme,KidsCountry,whichisbeingrunbytheEast of England Agricul-turalSociety.
The Food and Farmingday, part of theKidsCountryprogramme, formedanotherpart of the society’s educa-tion incentive, which aimsto teach young people aboutfood,farmingandagriculturein Britain.
Peterborough City Coun-cilprovidedfree transport sothat 43 schoolscould attendtheFoodandFarmingdayandit offered a great opportunityforschoolchildrento witnessrst hand theimportance of locallysourcedproduce,whilealsoallowingthemtheoppor-tunitytolearnthewholefoodand farm experience, fromcultivatingseedstocaringforcows.
Jeremy Staples, chief ex-ecutiveof theEastof EnglandAgricultural Society, said:“The Society hasbeenblownaway by the success of theKidsCountryFoodandFarm-ing day.
“Ourcharity is about edu-cationand rural life,whichisatthe topof theagenda mov-ing forward. This is the newevent that we want to focuson,and thisis ourfuture.
“It has been such a hugesuccess, and plans includeopportunitiesto build on theevent, andlook atextendingitovertwodays,withone-dayopen to the public. There is£7billionworthofagriculturebusinessinthearea,andtheyarefullysupportingourfutureeventsand us.
“Everyonehaslearntsome-thing today, and it’s a great
messagefromtheSocietythatwearedoingsomethingreallyworthwhile.”
Nationaland localexhibi-torsduring theday includedthe National Farmers’ Union(NFU).
Brian Finnerty, regionalcommunications advisor atthe NFU, explained: “Thesekindofeventsareveryimpor-tanttousattheNFU.Anongo-ingchallengeis toget young
EVENTREPORT
FoodforthoughtatShowground
people involved in farming.There are 40,000 to 50,000people that work in agricul-tureinourareaandaquarter
oftheseareduetoretireinthenext10years.
“Theindustryhaschangedand we need skilled peopletrainedin computing andus-inghigh-techmachinery.It isagreatcareerchoiceforyoungpeople in Cambridgeshire,
whichis oneof themostpro-ductive agriculture countiesin thecountry.”
Duringthe day, a livestockeventalsotookplaceandchil-dren enjoyed ge ingclosetofarmyard animals as part of theirlearning experience.
Now, morethan ever, con-sumers are thinking moreaboutwheretheirfoodcomesfrom, and events such theseofferagreatunderstandingof
howto monitorthe traceabil-ityofourmeatandvegetables.
HarryHorrell(24),ofPodeHole Farm, Thorney, andchairman of Oundle YoungFarmers, believes that weneedtobedoingallthatwecantoencourageyoungpeoplein-
tofarming,aswellassupport-ing Britishagriculture.He said: “Farming is not
just a job, it’sa lifestyle and agreat wayof enjoyingthe out-doorsandkeepingt. A largepercentage of farmers are50yearsplusandsothereisarealneed foryoung peopleto em-bracethe industry.
“Young people do seemmoreconsciousofwheretheirfoodcomesfromandtous,itis
Mayorof PeterboroughJuneStokeswith childrentakinga tractorride .
Youngsters get a close up view of the cattle judging . Visi ting school childr en at the showgro und main stand.
B Ann R [email protected]@PeterboroughTel
Have your say
Howimportantisbuyinglo-calproducetoyou?Jointhedebate onTwi er@peterboroughteland see
howsupportinglocalpro-ducerscanenhancethelocaleconomy#supportlocalYoucanalsohaveyoursayandlikeourfacebookpageatfacebook.com/peterboroughtodayorvisitourwebsitewww.peterbor-oughtoday.co.uk,whereyoucanaccessallyourfavourite articlesandcommentonthisissueandothers.
allabouttraceability.IfyouseetheRed TractorLogoon yourfood,you canbe assured thattheproductcanbetracedbacktoa Britishfarm.”
Everyonerememberstheirfavourite school trips, thesenseoffreedomandalearn-
ing environment away fromthehumdrumatmosphere of theclassroom.
Susie Hall, head of equal-ityservicestoschoolsandgov-ernanceat PeterboroughCityCouncil, said:“The highlightof thedayfor me,waswatch-ing 600 schoolchildren play-ing a ukulele created out of U erly Bu erly tubs.Eventslikethisgivechildrenafantas-tic learningexperience.”
“Ourcharityisabout education
andrural life,whichisatthe
topoftheagendamovingforward.”
JeremyStaples