A Manitoba project is underway that is designed to educate urban kids who think cotton comes from sheep.
Construction of the Glenlea Farm Education Centre – a one of a kind centre with a mandate of agricultural awareness and education – is set to begin this fall, about 10 km south of Winnipeg.
“(We want) to improve the general understanding that food and many of the products we use in everyday living, are coming from agriculture,” said Karin Wittenberg, associate dean for the agricultural college at the University of Manitoba.
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“We’re also interested in providing people with information that helps them recognize the broad range of careers around agriculture and food.”
The education centre will become part of the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment, a research facility on the Glenlea site.
So far, Wittenberg said, they have raised half the funds needed to construct the education centre.
“We’re in a good position to move forward,” said Wittenberg. “The project is a $4 million project. We don’t have the full $4 million in place, but our goal had been to raise half the money and start construction of it.”
Monsanto recently helped the project move closer to its financial goal by donating $100,000.
“Monsanto is a strong supporter of groups and programs that focus on enhancing agricultural awareness and education,” said Trish Jordan, public affairs director for Monsanto Canada, in a release.
Johanne Ross, the executive director of Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba Inc., a program designed to spread ag knowledge to kids, can’t wait for the farm education centre to open.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Ross. “I know it’s a little ways down the road … but in terms of Agriculture in the Classroom, it’s going to be a great opportunity for students and schools.”
Ross is particularly excited about the proposed exhibits at the centre. It won’t be a stiff and sterile museum.
“It’s going to be a unique type of facility, it’s going to be very hands on,” she said.
The education centre is planning to include a tractor simulator, where kids can check the GPS and “ride” the fields, a mixed farm site with feed bins, bales and virtual crops and a hands-on food preparation area.
Ross took part in an Agriculture Awareness breakfast at the Manitoba Legislature March 18, a program to show urban kids where their food comes from.
She said those sorts of events, and projects like the Glenlea Education Centre, are essential to get kids excited about agriculture.
“There is a (knowledge) gap and it’s not just in the urban areas,” she said.
