{"id":64384,"date":"2024-10-10T09:39:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T08:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/?p=64384"},"modified":"2024-10-10T14:36:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T13:36:08","slug":"primary-school-children-get-wise-about-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/primary-school-children-get-wise-about-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"Primary school children get wise about farming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than 1,600 primary school children from across Devon got \u2018Farmwise\u2019 on Tuesday and saw for themselves where our food comes from and how it\u2019s made.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We invited Key Stage 2 primary school children from 40 primary schools and they rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into a range of activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the 11th time this annual event has been held and teachers and children tell us it’s the absolute highlight of their year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event is a collaboration between ourselves, South West Norse, Devon County Agricultural Association, and Mole Valley Farmers and takes place at Westpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year it was attended by our leader, Councillor James McInnes, our Chair of the Council, Councillor John Hart, and members of our Senior Leadership Team, Maria Price and Maria Chakraborty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farmwise offers children a \u2018beyond the classroom experience\u2019 with the chance to engage in a multitude of sensory activities and experiences offered by a mix of producers and farmers, including tenant farmers from our Farms Estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They met Trevor from the \u2018Sheep Show\u2019 and his wonderful dancing sheep, which explained the connection between sheep and the wool found in our textiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the \u2018Burping Cows\u2019 exhibit, children were introduced to the environmental issues surrounding methane gas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the popular poultry section made a welcome return, with children once again getting the chance to hold fluffy chicks that had hatched that very morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other exhibits included delivering a lamb, which involves a sheep simulator, a cuddly toy and copious amounts of gloop; and the brand new \u2018Farmwise\u2019 mobile unit was also unveiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the end of this month the mobile unit will be taken on the road to schools across the county to provide even more children with the opportunity to learn about farming and food provenance. <\/p>\n\n\n

\r\n\t
\r\n

Deborah Custance Baker, Chair of Farmwise Devon, said: <\/p><\/div>\r\n \t\t

\u201cFarmwise is the most exciting day of the year for many school children; it always seems to be a firm favourite amongst pupils and teachers alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cSadly a lot of children don\u2019t fully understand where their food comes from, or the work that goes into producing an egg, or a pint of milk, so that\u2019s what we are here for, to educate, inspire and to help them to understand in a really hands-on way.\u00a0 The children can touch and smell all aspects of farming from huge combines to little ants, with expert volunteers on hand to explain the processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can see the animals, they can see the end product, and the process in between, as well as how the land is looked after, and how crops are planted and cultivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is wonderful for them to get up close and be able to feel so many different aspects of food production.\u00a0 The children have always got wide smiles on their faces as they get stuck into the activities, which means they\u2019re not just learning about farming and rural life, they\u2019re genuinely enjoying the experience, too, which they will take back to the classroom and home with them, and it encourages discussion and learning.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t<\/blockquote>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Farmwise began in 2013 when our current Chair, Councillor John Hart led the council. A strong advocate of the event since its formation, Councillor Hart has attended the event every year.<\/p>\n\n\n

\r\n\t
\r\n

Chair of Devon County Council, Councillor John Hart said: <\/p><\/div>\r\n \t\t

\u201cIt is great fun, but it\u2019s also important for children to have the chance to see, touch and smell the things that our farmers are producing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt educates children on where the food they see on their shelves at home, or in the shops and markets, comes from.
\n“I want to thank the many Devon County Council staff who volunteer their time to help out every year and our tenant farmers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey take the time to talk to children about what they do, and in doing so hopefully they inspire the next generation of potential farmers.<\/p>\n

“Our Farms Estate gives people who are interested in agriculture the opportunity to get their feet on the ladder. This is an opportunity that otherwise is very difficult to find, and I want to thank them all for their participation on this special day.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy appreciation also goes to the Devon County Show Committee. We could not host this event without their generosity in letting us use the building.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\t
\r\n\t\t\"placeholder\r\n
\r\n Councillor John Hart, Chair of the Council<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n <\/figure>\r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Farmwise 2024 is organised in partnership with Devon County Agricultural Association, Devon County Council, Southwest Norse Group, Mole Valley Farmers, Dartington Cattle Breeding Trust, Devon Farmers Benevolent Fund, Aviagen UK lid, P.D Hook and supported by lots of industry leaders and groups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":859,"featured_media":64385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7,34,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children-families-and-education","category-community","category-environment-and-climate-change"],"acf":[],"featured_image":{"ID":64385,"title":"Chicks","alt":"Children holding chicks at farmwise","description":"","caption":"","url":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--scaled.jpg","width":2048,"height":1536,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--400x270.jpg","thumbnail_width":400,"thumbnail_height":270,"medium":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--600x450.jpg","medium_width":600,"medium_height":450,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--768x576.jpg","medium_large_width":768,"medium_large_height":576,"large":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--800x600.jpg","large_width":800,"large_height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--1536x1152.jpg","1536x1536_width":1536,"1536x1536_height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--2048x1536.jpg","2048x2048_width":2048,"2048x2048_height":1536,"thumbnail_featured":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--770x450.jpg","thumbnail_featured_width":770,"thumbnail_featured_height":450,"thumbnail_sidebar":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--200x135.jpg","thumbnail_sidebar_width":200,"thumbnail_sidebar_height":135,"banner-block":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--440x440.jpg","banner-block_width":440,"banner-block_height":440,"small-banner":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--640x480.jpg","small-banner_width":640,"small-banner_height":480,"medium-banner":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--1024x768.jpg","medium-banner_width":1024,"medium-banner_height":768,"small-thumb":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--640x480.jpg","small-thumb_width":640,"small-thumb_height":480,"medium-thumb":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--320x240.jpg","medium-thumb_width":320,"medium-thumb_height":240,"large-thumb":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--420x315.jpg","large-thumb_width":420,"large-thumb_height":315,"slideshow-preview":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--300x200.jpg","slideshow-preview_width":300,"slideshow-preview_height":200,"slideshow":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/146\/2024\/10\/Chicks--800x533.jpg","slideshow_width":800,"slideshow_height":533}},"category_priority":7,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-10-10 08:33:38","action":"delete","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/859"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64384"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64403,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64384\/revisions\/64403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}