{"id":67418,"date":"2025-10-08T16:36:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T15:36:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/?p=67418"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:33:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:33:56","slug":"hundreds-of-children-get-wise-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/news\/hundreds-of-children-get-wise-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of children get wise about farming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>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<p>We invited Key Stage 2 primary school children from more than 40 primary schools, and they rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into a range of activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s the 13th time this annual event at Westpoint has been held and the event is a collaboration between us, South West Norse, Devon County Agricultural Association, and Mole Valley Farmers and takes place at Westpoint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This year it was attended by our Chair Caroline Leaver, our Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin, our Chair of the Farms Estates Committee Henry Gent, our Cabinet Member for Highways Dan Thomas and leader of the Reform Group Councillor Michael Fife-Cook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Farmwise offers children the chance to engage in a multitude of sensory activities and experiences offered by a mix of producers and farmers, including first generation tenant farmers from our Farms Estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Farmwise2025\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/W53Zcj8D94o?feature=oembed&#038;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The event is split into different sections, arable, environmental, vegetables, fruit, food, pigs, beef, poultry, sheep to enable kids to have a thorough understanding of the work that our farmers do, and kids got to meet 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<p>Through the \u2018Burping Cows\u2019 exhibit, children were introduced to the environmental issues surrounding methane gas, while there was also an exhibit with remote controlled robot sheep dogs<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other exhibits included delivering a lamb, which involves a sheep simulator, a cuddly toy and copious amounts of gloop and a pig\u2019s carcass.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"block_acf-block-695d2f3d6b32e\" class=\"councillor-quote align-right grid-x\">\r\n\t<blockquote class=\"councillor-quote-blockquote medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n                    <div class=\"councillor-quote-title\"><p>Deborah Custance Baker has been Chair of Farmwise Devon for the last seven years and this was her final event and she said: <\/p><\/div>\r\n        \t\t<div class=\"councillor-quote-text\"><p>\u201cI\u2019ve loved every minute of it; it\u2019s been a great honour and it\u2019s going to be in good hands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe always have such a long waiting list for schools, and we wanted to do something about that and during my time as chair we got the mobile unit on the road; last year through our outreach work we visited 15 schools and this year we hope to build on that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd very soon we will launch the Farmwise website and that will be the go-to resource for children who want to learn more about where their food comes from.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve enjoyed my time as chair immensely and helping children understand the work that goes into producing the food that they eat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is wonderful to see the children 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t<\/blockquote>\r\n    \r\n    <\/div>\n\n<div id=\"block_acf-block-695d2f3d6b886\" class=\"councillor-quote align-right dcc grid-x\">\r\n\t<blockquote class=\"councillor-quote-blockquote medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n                    <div class=\"councillor-quote-title\"><p>Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin, our cabinet member for rural affairs, said:  <\/p><\/div>\r\n        \t\t<div class=\"councillor-quote-text\"><p>\u201cIt was great fun and it\u2019s so important for children to have the chance to see, touch and smell the things that our farmers are producing and to see the work that goes into it and what food looks like before it gets on supermarket shelves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s events like this that show why we should never take the food we produce for granted; and how we look after the environment can impact on all of us.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd it\u2019s all thanks to the organisers and our tenant farmers who turn out every year, give up their time to talk to children about what they do, and in doing so hopefully they have inspired the next generation of farmers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAgriculture is such a vital part of Devon\u2019s economy, and 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\r\n\t<\/blockquote>\r\n        <div class=\"councillor-quote-aside medium-auto small-12 cell\">\r\n\t<figure class=\"councillor-quote-image grid-x\">\r\n\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"small-6 cell medium-12\" src=\"https:\/\/democracy.devon.gov.uk\/UserData\/3\/9\/5\/Info00011593\/bigpic.jpg\" alt=\"Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\r\n        <figcaption class=\"councillor-quote-description small-6 cell medium-12\" >\r\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/democracy.devon.gov.uk\/mgUserInfo.aspx?UID=11593\" rel=\"noopener\">Councillor Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin, Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs and Broadband<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n            <\/figure>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    \r\n    <\/div>\n\n\n<p>Farmwise 2025 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":67422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22,7,34,25,2144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy-and-skills","category-children-families-and-education","category-community","category-environment-and-climate-change","category-public-health","post_format-post-format-video"],"acf":[],"featured_image":{"ID":67422,"title":"Copy of hero image for news website 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