Students can learn how to pull a calf, how cattle help grasslands, how to become a plant hero and how to make cheesy beef meatballs — all on one website.
Canadian Western Agribition launched its virtual education program Feb. 1 featuring material related to agriculture that is designed for students in all grades of elementary school.
Agribition, held in Regina and featuring the largest livestock show in Western Canada, is making its educational program free online and accessible year round to teachers, students and the general public.
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The 2020 event was cancelled due to pandemic-related health concerns.
“With the absence of Agribition last year I know that teachers and students … they look forward to the yearly Agribition trip, so it’s more or less just trying to educate about Canadian ag, and then also the component of learning about different things before you come to Agribition so you’re getting a little bit more out of the show,” said marketing and communications manager Karlee Vorrieter.
She said various educational partners had input into the educational materials provided. Agribition has an education committee and used its connections with school boards and teachers “to make sure what we were creating was appropriate,” Vorrieter said.
“The education committee did a really good job of filtering out and ensuring that everything aligned with what teachers want to teach in the classroom. We did our best to pick and create content that would be both what kids get at the show but also what we could provide online. There’s some pretty cool stuff on there.”
The program was launched in partnership with Saskatchewan’s provincial agriculture department.
Agribition chief executive officer Chris Lane said it is designed to complement live programming.
“Each year, CWA welcomes thousands of students to the show and we wanted to build a platform that helped prepare students and teachers for the experience they’ll get at Agribition,” Lane said in a news release about the launch.
Agribition organizers are planning for a return of the live event scheduled Nov. 22-27.
The program can be found at www.agribition.com/show-information/education.
