Why farm links and growing?

School Food Matters wants every child to understand where food comes from. Our farm links will allow children to meet the farmer who grows the food, see the food growing in the context of a working farm and then enjoy the experience of tasting the food in the school dining room. The Year of Food and Farming has clearly demonstrated the need for this to happen now.

At the official launch this year, HRH Prince of Wales said that research published by The Year of Food and Farming (6) was "pretty terrifying stuff". The research showed that:

• one in five children never visit the countryside - that means that more than one million children across the country have absolutely no contact with the land
• a fifth of children say they have never picked and then eaten fruit
• one in four children across England have never visited a farmer's market or shop
• children without any experience of rural life are twice as likely to admit they don't know where their food comes from.

The report went on to illustrate that there's a very real connection between the opportunities children have to interact with the countryside, and their appreciation of the food chain.

• Two thirds of pupils with rural experiences are interested in where their food comes from - only 40% of children who never visit the countryside care where their meals started out.
• Children without rural experiences are twice as likely to admit they don't know where food like rhubarb or spinach comes from, unlike those who do visit the countryside. Many of the children studied in more depth could only suggest that their food came from shop shelves or city centres, rather than tracking back through the food chain.
• Hands-on experiences don't only provide pupils with a better grasp of how food starts out it also makes them more likely to want to eat those foods. Studies have shown that children who are given a taste of growing vegetables develop positive appetites for their produce - in some cases, becoming a third more likely to ask for food like courgettes or peas.
• Countryside experiences can also create positive results at home. Children who are often exposed to the countryside are more likely to be regular helpers in the kitchen. Over a third of these pupils stated they always or often help prepare the family meal, against one in five children who had no experience of the countryside.

(6) The Year of Food and Farming: July 2007