Canada: Urban children learn about farming
The Seed Survivor program sends mobile classrooms to schools around North America to teach students about agriculture
By Ed White
Western Producer
May 19, 2023
Excerpt:
How tall does a sunflower get?
“As tall as a giant?” offers an excited Grade 3 student to retired farmer Diane Mauthe’s question.
Not quite, Mauthe tells him, but she surprises many of the students at Robert H. Smith school when she tells them that sunflower crops will be taller than most of their parents, and far taller than kids. They could get lost inside a sunflower crop.
Also, farmers need to harvest them before birds pounce on their heads and eat all the seeds.
It’s information that wouldn’t surprise anybody who grew up on a farm or deals with agriculture, but the reality of this central Winnipeg neighbourhood is that few children have any direct connection to a farm and for many of them, food comes from a grocery store.
On this day, many classes of elementary school students have trooped through the Seed Survivor trailer, which is parked behind the school, where they worked on farming-related games, activities and crafts. They have planted sunflower seeds in little pots and learned about soil, water and the basics of growing a food crop.
