Agriculture In the Classroom:
Two years ago I was employed at a non profit (the PEI Agriculture Sector) and while I was there I had the good fortune of traveling to Ottawa to be involved in a National conference based around Agriculture in the Classroom. The board was made up of representatives from all across Canada who were looking for ways to get our students to enhance their knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of how food is produced. Ultimately this is a great concept and it is something that we strive to do at our family farm by hosting events for students, but in reality there is room for improvement on the local school board level and on the national stage. I saw what I thought were major conflicts of interest as we struggled as a group to fund the non-profit organization Agriculture in the Classroom AITC (http://www.aitc.ca/en/index.html) through private donations, and simultaneously be expected to represent different points of view. For example, having Monsanto (who was on the table as a potential founder but ultimately pulled) be a major sponsor means that you are not likely going to be able to speak out about any of the controversy surrounding their corporation without loosing funding. And of course all of the major sponsors who have enough money to donate and support a non profit whose goal is to educate people about agriculture have a vested interested in what is taught and not taught.They are also the ones who front the cash to host the event and have major influence over the Federal government policies. Getting money from them is somewhat like having healthy eating lessons being taught by a “healthy eating organization” who is sponsored by McDonalds and hands out happy meals at the end of every lesson. I think the mission of AITC is extremely important and that there is starting to be a large disconnect where people do not know where their food comes from, but that efforts for this type of education need to be made on the state level and be sponsored in every school so that they can represent all forms of agriculture, not just one monoculture method perpetuated by agriculture giants. Most of the major funding that AITC was looking to get to support their employees, supplies, website, etc, came with a stipulation that a member of the board, probably an aggressive/extravert type who could hold sway a room, from the funding organization would have to be present to oversee what type of material would be issued in the classroom. I haven’t been involved since the conference so I do not know precisely what funding is currently helping support the AITC organization (likely a hybrid of federal and private funds) but I did have a sinking feeling that not all voices in agriculture would get equal representation. I do not wish to discredit the AITC organization as it is a noble cause, but I do hope that all the diverse forms of agriculture are being taken into account when the National Curriculum is developed and that there is not any pressure or fear that funding could be taken away abruptly.
One of the issues I see here on PEI and one that I think is a microcosm for things that are happening on a global scale is division and animosity between Organic and Traditional agriculture. The two sides are often diametrically opposed and both have many extraverts with strong opinions who are willing to pick out flaws and pick a fight with the “other” side. Even within our type of farming, permaculture (a portmanteau of permanent and agriculture), there starts to be entrenched opinions and zealots who start to slander everyone who is not doing things their way. You get schisms that are comparable to religion. No one wants to meet in the middle or sit down at a table with the other side. Is there not room for many different forms or a scientific method applied to see what works and what doesn’t? I find with permaculture new practitioners often don’t appreciate the wisdom and advice of the other side, they are just eager to pick out all the flaws before they have offered a viable alternative that could feed people on the same scale and be profitable for farmers. This leads to a hostile environment and one of the ways we had to subvert the mainstream agriculture community to access grants, be involved with the community, etc, was to use different terms such as Agroforestry, diversified orchards, etc to avoid being labelled dirty hippies. We wear shirts and ties and present everything in professional business terms to avoid being associated with the patchouli scented hippies who feel like they have tried it all and are resistant to new ideas because their old peace love and happiness communes didn’t pan out. I often find common ground with farmers when you break it down to the numbers. The fact of the matter is more farmers are looking for ways to lower input costs because only the “economies of scale” or very large corporations seem to be making any money. Im actually surprised the pitchforks haven’t come out and that farmers are shouldering huge debts and working so hard to feed the world while they are often burdened with colossal debt. It is a primary industry after all, people can’t eat cash so the farmers should be treated with much more respect than they currently get. Many farmers are deeply in debt and in the pocket of a larger corporation when they used to be the most autonomous members of society. Back when farms were more diverse. A lot of farmers are involved because they have it in their blood or enjoy the lifestyle, not necessarily because they are business tycoons. Of course this does not apply to everyone there are many smart and talented farmers who are professionals in other areas. For example one I know is a doctor to support his farming and many have gone to school to learn more about the business aspect.
But I digress this is not meant to be a post about farming it is meant to be a post about teaching kids about farming. I think all farmers could agree that kids need to be more educated these days. It is a scary fact but there are actually kids out there who would legitimately tell you that their food comes from the grocery story and not realize the work that goes into getting it there. Generations of knowledge can be lost at an extremely rapid rate. It needs to be brought back into the school system. I have had to teach myself with the help of some excellent teachers later in life, but I would have been much better off if I had been taught some basic plant management, preserving, etc during my education experience. Is it not an applied biology? Some schools I have taught at actually have the set ups for interesting greenhouse environments but it is tough to support that when funding is being slashed in every other aspect of the school and the teachers are being overworked and do not even know how to do such things themselves because they were never taught.
As I mentioned we have had many students out to our family farm, over 300 so far. Here are 3 articles that have been published about our operation since its inception:
We are not a typical farm and have a more idyllic orchard like setting so it does make it easier than a larger monoculture operation, but the larger operations are still fully capable of hosting events if they
have an organized/safe operation (i.e. one that doesn’t have chemicals or dangerous tools strewn about, organic or otherwise). Farmers need to unite to teach kids about the many different ways to grow food and to come up with systems that are beneficial for the farmers and their families and communities and less concerned with ever expanding profits for a corporation that is completely driven by the profit principle.