National Farmers' Union (NFU) Education has reported that it reached more than 500,000 students across the nation in 2023.
More than 250 ambassadors have spearheaded the 'Farmers for Schools' initiative since its inception, visiting primary and secondary schools across the country to help children learn about the vital work British farmers and growers do to produce safe, tasty and nutritious food, and how this goes hand in hand with caring for the land and environment.
NFU Education said that "the impact is evident", with the ambassadors having visited more than 50 schools since September and delivering assemblies on farming to more than 7,000 schoolchildren, an increase of over 300% since last year.
It highlighted that it also extends beyond traditional classrooms with their live lessons, including 'Science Farm Live', 'Harvest Thali' and 'The Lamb Diaries', reaching more than 360,000 students across 5,000 classrooms. It said that these lessons "integrate agriculture with the national curriculum" to teach students through their science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.
NFU president Minette Batters said: “I am extremely proud of the work delivered by NFU Education, resulting in some incredible achievements this year.
“The sheer number of students engaged in our Live lessons demonstrates the enormous appetite from children and teachers to teach and learn STEM subjects through the lens of agriculture, whether they come from a farming background or not, and we have dozens more Farmers for Schools booked in for the next school term."
Batters said: “It’s really heartening to see so many schools wanting to engage with us and provide their pupils with such a fantastic learning experience which helps them gain a greater understanding of where their food comes from.
“As we celebrate these successes, it’s good to reflect on the power of education to excite children in food and farming and pave the way for a future generation that really values, understand and champions British agriculture.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
