Subject: canola – Kids get the facts on the yellow flower

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Published: August 14, 1997

When Jennifer Mung grows up, she says she wants to be a farmer.

“Farmers know everything,” said the five-year-old Winnipeg girl who spent an afternoon with her daycare visiting the Canola Learning Centre just south of the city.

The centre, located at Kelburn Stock Farm outside Winnipeg, is the latest initiative by the Canola Council and James Richardson International to boost the image of the golden crop.

Visitors on tour with Winnipeg’s River Avenue daycare were too young to understand much about how the yellow plants are transformed into the cooking oil their parents use to keep pancakes from sticking to the griddle, but program co-ordinator Ellen Kubay said the learning centre has a lot to offer.

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“If they leave here knowing canola is yellow and flax is purple then it’s worth it,” she said during an afternoon tour Aug. 7.

“Maybe they’ll be driving with their parents someday and say that’s a canola field and canola makes oil.”

Focus on youngsters

Kubay shows daycare and some elementary school-aged children around the farm during the month-long program.

The tour begins with the children gathering in a tent where displays about farming and the different uses of canola are set up. Most kids huddle around the jars containing insects – the enemies of the canola farmer.

The exhibits include information on biotechnology, food safety, nutrition and how canola gets from the ground to the store.

There’s not much discussion about biotechnology with daycare groups, but Kubay said the older kids usually have some questions.

“It was something the canola council wanted to introduce because it is happening with canola and with farming in general,” she said.

“We talk about how many people there are on this planet and how we’re going to feed them, and then we talk about not wanting to destroy rain forests and parks to create more land to grow food on.”

Often, the teachers are the ones with questions about the ethics of tampering with nature, Kubay said.

“I don’t want to give them too much information on biotechnology because if you only get a little bit then you could be misguided. These kids are all from an urban area so I try to keep it simple.”

After checking out the displays, kids climb on a trailer hitched to a tractor for a tour through the fields. Kubay points out the canola varieties and how they look different from other crops.

When they step into the field, the canola plants are higher than many of the kid’s heads.

Able to see and touch

The hands-on experience offered at the canola learning centre is what kids and instructors seem to appreciate most, Kubay said.

“They get out there, walk in the fields, pull up some weeds,” said the recent education grad. “I think it is important for kids to experience the world around them.”

At the end of the day, Mung has a handful of plants and lots of new ideas about getting her own farm up and running.

“I helped my mom plant flowers in our garden so I’ll know how to be a farmer.”

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