Full marks for why farming matters teaching packs

Teaching packs aimed at reconnecting children with how their food is produced have gone to the top of the class after all 15,000 copies were snapped up by schools across the country.

Launched in July as part of the Year of Food and Farming, the Why Farming Matters teaching packs were created by the NFU and FACE to promote healthy living, show children where food comes from and why farming matters to their everyday lives.

To date 10,000 packs have been requested and delivered to primary schools and 5,000 to secondary schools, and now they are available to download on NFU Online with just a few hard copies remaining.

Farmer Guy Smith, who led the project for the NFU, said: "Farmers are keen for school children to have a better understanding of British agriculture, so the fact that our 15,000 packs have disappeared like hot cakes is really encouraging news.

"Today's children are tomorrow's consumers and countryside visitors, so this project was an important step forward in explaining agriculture in a positive, balanced and curriculum-relevant manner.

"I would encourage all schools that haven't already done so, to go online and order their free copy. We are confident these packs make a significant contribution to both the Year of Food and Farming and to education about farming generally."

The packs have been well received by teachers. Typical of the response are these comments from the science advisor to Lincolnshire primary schools Jane Banham: "The pictures in the pack are fantastic. They have been used in all parts of the curriculum including art, history, geography, and of course farming links.

"Using the quotes for the pictures gave me further ideas for the children to use with their ideas for what the pictures meant and their relevance. Some of the generic ideas for games have also given me the confidence to adapt more of my games to have a farming angle to them."