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Dear herb farmer,
It's
back-to-school time for children,
adolescents, and young adults in
many countries across the world.
Once these students have returned to
their classrooms, however, it’s
unlikely that they’ll be learning
about food and nutrition.
According to Jamie Oliver’s
Food Revolution, in the United
States alone, elementary school
students only receive an average
of 3.4 hours of food
education per year.
But it's more
important than ever to educate and
engage kids in the food system,
especially as farming populations
age. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) reports that
the average age of an American
farmer is 57 years old, and 60
percent of farmers in the country
are over the age of 55.
All over the world, the farming
population is diminishing, and this
is a crucial moment for youth to
realize the importance of farming
and become involved in all aspects
of the food system--from producing
and processing food to becoming
agronomists, scientists, chefs, and
policy-makers. Jon Previant,
Executive Director of The FARM
Institute, said it best in an interview with Food
Tank: “Kids spread the fever.”
Food Tank has compiled
a list of 14 initiatives that
are educating youth about
agriculture, and creating a
genuine interest in safe,
sustainable, and healthy food.
1. Edible
Schoolyard Project
Kids are excited to get involved in
building gardens, like the one that
began the Edible Schoolyard Project
in Berkeley, California. Co-founded
17 years ago by Alice Waters, famous
chef and Vice-President of Slow Food
International, the project
brings together students, teachers,
parents, and community members to to
grow more than 100 varieties of
crops. The schoolyard now boasts a
chicken coop and two rainwater
cisterns.
2. Farm
Africa
Farm Africa has begun a farm
training program for rural Kenyan
youth, growing vegetables,
mushrooms, and passionfruit. Farm
Africa also teaches students how to
get the best price at market and
encourages them to get involved in
local governance.
3. The FARM
Institute
The institute provides education
about sustainable farming to
children and adults. Located in
Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts,
the FARM Institute encourages
experiential learning--kids learn by
actively growing, preparing, and
eating food on the farm.
4. The
Farming Kindergarten
Scheduled to open in September 2013,
the Farming Kindergarten in Dong
Nai, Vietnam, is designed as a
prototype of tropical sustainable
education spaces. It will provide
food and agriculture experience and
a safe outdoor playground to
Vietnamese children in a suburb of
Ho Chi Minh City.
5. Green
Youth Farm
Every year, the Chicago-based Green
Youth Farm hires 60 high school
students from ages 15 to 18 to work
from mid-May to mid-October on an
organic farm, managing bees, selling
produce at markets, and cooking with
the produce they’ve grown.
6. Jamie
Oliver’s Food Revolution
Jamie Oliver’s organization has been
drawing national attention to the
problem of unhealthy school meals
and the lack of food-related
education children receive in
school. Along with improving school
meals, Oliver’s program has launched
a network of community kitchens that
provide cooking classes, in-school
cooking lessons for kids, and
support to parents lobbying schools
for better food.
7. Junior
Farmer Field and Life Schools
(JFFLS)
The U.N. Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), in partnership
with the International Labour
Organization (ILO), has programs in
Kenya, Uganda, Antigua, and Barbuda
in Junior Farmer Field and Life
Schools as part of their “Strategic
Plan for Youth
Development/Involvement in
Agriculture.” FAO and ILO aim to
foster market demand for sustainable
food while providing youth with
tools to begin growing their own
sustainable food.
8. Mexico
Child Link
Mexico Child Link provides a home
for a small group of abandoned
children and children with learning
disabilities on a working farm. The
children learn skills such as
intercropping, animal husbandry, and
cheese-making.
9. The
Natwani Coalition
In Arizona, the Natwani Coalition is
working to get Native American
children involved with traditional
Hopi dry-farming practices,
including a video-based curriculum
and several school gardens. Students
from the Johns Hopkins Center for
American Indian Health are also
starting community gardens and
school gardens on a Navajo
reservation.
10. SeedMap.org
A website dedicated to seeds,
biodiversity, and food, Seedmap.org
features an interactive map that
shows seed diversity, threats to the
planet’s biodiversity, and
solutions. After it launches in
October, kids and adults can look at
the site to learn about the state of
agro-biodiversity all over the
world. Seedmap.org is a product of USC Canada
and the ETC Group.
11. The
Southern Sustainable Agriculture
Research & Education (SSARE)
The SSARE grants program funds high
school and college students’
projects related to sustainable
agriculture research. This year’s
projects included “Weed Management
and Nematode Communities in Organic
Coffee Farms of Puerto Rico” and
“Internship on Mapping Sustainable
Farm Systems: An experiential
introduction to sustainable
agriculture.”
12. Sprouting
Healthy Kids
The Sustainable Food Center brings
gardens and fresh produce to
schools. The farm-to-school program
began in the Austin, Texas area in
2007 and has since expanded to 22
schools throughout central Texas.
Sprouting Healthy Kids serves fresh
fruits and vegetables in school,
teaches classroom lessons about food
systems, and provides after-school
gardening and cooking programs.
13. The
Sylvia Center
The Sylvia Center, based in New
York, teaches children about
sustainable food production. Cooking
classes are hosted in New York City,
and at Katchkie Farm in Columbia
County, a 60-acre organic farm,
students learn how to grow, harvest,
and cook fresh produce.
14. WFP
USA’s Back to School Campaign
The World Food Programme (WFP) USA
is working with eBay's
Giving Works project to raise
money to provide healthy school
meals to kids in need. When buyers
make purchases through August 25th,
they can also make a donation to WFP
USA. EBay sellers selling school
clothes, backpacks and other school
supplies can donate part of their
proceeds to WFP USA.
Please feel free to share this list
by clicking HERE. What
other innovations in education
around food issues are important to
highlight? Send me an email and let me
know!
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