BRANDON, Man. – Winnipeg’s Centennial Library has one and a half shelves of books on animal rights but only one book on animal welfare, says Shelly CurŽ.
As one of the people ensuring Manitoba’s 208,000 schoolchildren learn more about agriculture, she said that’s a problem.
She also found it disturbing that the coloring book being used in many elementary schools and developed by the province’s science teachers carried misinformation about the environmental harm farmers were doing.
“It’s important to have information that is accurate, balanced and current,” she told the Manitoba Women’s Institute.
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CurŽ runs the Agriculture in the Classroom program in Manitoba and suggested MWI members start correcting the misinformation about farming by talking to their children and grandchildren.
Ways to educate
Several approaches also help teach the 97 percent of Canada’s population that is urban about how the other three percent lives. Farm tours are good, said CurŽ, as long as they are more than petting zoos. One group of women produces bread-making kits that explain where grain is from, how yeast works and how wheats differ in baking qualities. Other ideas suggested those in agriculture donate farm publications to the local school library or provide seeds, pots and soil in a lesson plan about how plants grow.
“I want to have a pizza party like they did in Toronto,” said CurŽ. “It’s something they’ll never forget.”
Students moved from table to table learning from the dairy association how cheese is made, from the vegetable producers group about mushrooms and tomato sauce and from meat producers about pepperoni. They also made the ingredients and ate their pizza at the end of the session.
MWI member Dawn Harris said she had found a site on the internet called Beyond Beef with 20 pages explaining why people should not eat meat. Each argument was based on a grain of truth making it difficult to counter.
“If you’re a beef producer you should take a look at it.”
