An event which seeks to educate young people on food and farming saw more than 1,200 children from over 60 schools attend.
Children under the age of 10 from across the Scottish Borders gathered at Springwood Park in Kelso to learn more about the food and farming industry.
The Border Union Agricultural Society’s (BUAS) Schools Countryside Day is now in its sixth year and was created in 2013 to inspire young people and encourage them to consider a career in the countryside.
Live animals and a range of activities and demonstrations helped the children to learn about a host of topics including veterinary work and auctioneering, pig breeding, sheep shearing, spinning and weaving, vegetable growing, ice cream-making, organic gardening, milling and renewable energy.
They were also able to find out about game-keeping, butchery, honey production, fish farming and forestry as well as conservation, wildlife management, recycling, flood prevention, river management and many other aspects of rural life.
Rural heritage
Neil Thomson, Chairman of Border Union Agricultural Society said the society is passionate about educating children about farming and food production, the environment, rural heritage and the diversity of countryside life.
“Through our Schools Countryside Day, we want to inspire these bright, talented young people to choose one of the many diverse careers that the region’s rural industries offer and to instill a love and appreciation of the countryside that will protect and sustain our rural life and economy for generations to come,” Mr Thomson explained.
This year, the event was visited by the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.
The Lord High Commissioner is the Queen’s personal representative at the General Assembly. The Duke’s visit was one of a number of official engagements undertaken as part of this role.
The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, said: “In this Year of Young People it is particularly important that a future generation has a chance to understand the vital place of agriculture in our Borders economy and countryside and I warmly congratulate the organisers and all who participate for creating a fascinating and enjoyable day out.”
Farming education
The event follows the launch of a new educational initiative by TV presenter and farmer Adam Henson, which seeks to educate school children where the food on their plate comes from.
The initiative hopes to create a generational shift in how the nation engages with and values food provenance.
The recent spike in food and farming education follows comments by the NFU that highlighted how British children have a "huge lack of knowledge" when its comes to knowing how and where their food is produced.
Indeed, a survey of more than 27,500 children conducted by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) found that nearly a third of children believe cheese comes from plants, tomatoes grow underground and fish fingers are made of chicken.
