Raising awareness about the importance of the agriculture industry has always been a passion for Nichole Neubauer.
That passion will be on full display this fall when she enters the Alberta Order of Excellence.
Neubauer’s grassroots contributions were crucial in creating and co-ordinating the Irvine Agricultural Discovery Centre (K-9) with Prairie Rose Public Schools, which nominated her for the award.
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Neubauer was on hand to talk about the centre during a farm writers tour in the Medicine Hat area last month.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Neubauer, who is trained in early childhood assessment, had hosted more than 20,000 students on field trips to her farm in an interactive and developmentally appropriate way to find out where food came from.
The COVID shutdown gave her time to think about how she could educate children beyond her farmgate and give them a more hands-on and ownership experience that also included older students.
“Unfortunately in the education system, there is more funding for little guys getting to go on a lot of field trips and get a lot of experiences,” she said.
“But as children age, it becomes more academic and they spend a lot more time between four walls of the classroom and less time doing hands-on active learning, really giving them opportunities to try and figure out, ‘what the heck do I want to be when I grow up.’ ”
The advocate wrote up a proposal that took all the best parts of Neubauer Farms, which was established in 1910 north of Irvine, and added what she wish she had. Then she sent it to Prairie Rose, with the discovery centre established in April 2022. It was a way for the school division to spend the surplus that resulted when operations ceased during COVID.
The agricultural discovery centre has a student board of directors assigning roles, with each having farm and ranch backgrounds or experience in 4-H. It takes skill sets they already had and puts them into leadership positions to mentor others who have not had the same opportunities.
Students come from the nearby hockey academy, Medicine Hat, Dunmore, Irvine and the greater rural community.
Irvine School students also connect virtually with urban students across the province and beyond to highlight the industry past rural borders. Through Google Classroom, social media and video production, Irvine students learn how to compose video logs and create presentations to showcase the day-to-day farming operations.
“It provides a great experience for kids who might not otherwise have an opportunity to care for a calf or plant a garden to form that authentic connection to where food comes from,” said Neubauer.
“We hope it lights a spark in our students and they form a greater appreciation for what agriculture is, and they see where they can play a role in the agriculture food system, building capacity as future leaders. Even if they don’t pursue careers in agriculture, having informed advocates of our industry is job one.”
The discovery centre is self sustaining, selling the agricultural products it produces as kids learn, right down to the cupcakes at bake sales.
The centre has a Harvest Gala every September where students plan and cater a community supper, share video and presentations about their experiences, host a farmers market and run a silent auction and live animal auction. The proceeds go to the centre.
The event, along with funds generated by agri-tourism and field trips, create financial sustainability.
With the average age of today’s producer being 58 years old, according to Neubauer, and 37 per cent of producers in the region being set to retire in the next 10 years, passing off the torch to the generations of tomorrow is critically important.
Along with giving children authentic connections with the food system and agriculture, the Irvine Agricultural Discovery Centre hopes to fill the gaps in those transitions by being the seed that grows kids’ interest in agriculture that blossoms and continues into adulthood.
RBC released a study that showed Canada needs to attract 123,000 people into the agri-food business industry by 2030 for it to sustain itself.
“That is not even to grow and capitalize on the amazing potential the Canadian agricultural system has,” said Neubauer.
“I think as an industry, I think we have done a very poor job overall of marketing ourselves as a forward thinking, technologically advanced industry, and it’s only going to get to be more and more.…
“I’d say agriculture is the barn roof that houses all of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) because you need to have access to all of those skills to be effective, whether you are in retail, run a feedlot or run a farm.”
The investiture ceremony for the province’s highest honour will be held in Edmonton in October. It will bring the total membership of the Alberta Order of Excellence to 229.
The full list of inductees can be found at alberta.ca/the-alberta-order-of-excellence.
