Sask. students experience breakfast from the farm

Grade 4 and 5 students at Dr. Brass School experienced breakfast from the farm for lunch.

The new Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan program is to make connections between the foods we eat and the farms who produce it.

Initially planned as a day where consumers would go out and enjoy a breakfast made of local ingredients and tour agriculture displays, the program was adapted to better fit COVID restrictions. Instead four schools from around the province were selected to receive a hot meal.

"We hope that both the teachers and the students are engaged in this process and it allows them to learn more about food production," said Clinton Monchuk, executive director of Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan.

Tim Horton’s delivered egg breakfast sandwiches and drinks to schools in Yorkton, Regina, Prince Albert and Saskatoon.

A series of interactive online activities, such as virtual farm tours and agricultural trivia contests for the students were also provided to further help teach the students about where their meal came from.

"The kids have learned about egg farming here in Saskatchewan and where the wheat comes from from the bun, the canola oil for the granola bar and we even have, they've researched knowledge about the beef for the beef jerky," said Susan Muir, teacher of the Grade 4/5 Growing Citizens Academy class.

Students also received a bag filled with additional snacks, recipes and books showcasing Saskatchewan-grown foods.

Her class was selected for it’s involvement with Agriculture in the Classroom and Little Green Thumbs. The Growing Citizens Academy teaches the Grade 4/5 curriculum under the umbrella of agriculture education, aboriginal perspectives for plants, social emotional learning, food sustainability and environmental sustainability.

Throughout the year the students have grown and harvested gardens inside and outside, and compost using worms in the classroom.

"I just find that it's important that children these days especially know where their food comes from because we seem to be so far removed from where our food comes from," said Muir.

According to Monchuk, fewer than three per cent of the population in Canada have a direct tie to farming.

"When I think of Dr. Brass School if only three per cent of those students can ask their grandparents, or aunties and uncles how farming happens we as a farming community need to do a better job of making sure that those opportunities exist," said Monchuk.

In the future, Monchuk hopes to see the program become more hands on bringing the students out to the farms to engage them.