Farmers support lockdown learning with Farmer Time videos for schools

Farmers are making videos of their daily activities to engage schoolchildren and educate them about the journey of food from farm to fork during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Strutt & Parker is a proud sponsor of the Farmer Time initiative, founded by farmer Tom Martin and co-ordinated by LEAF Education, which harnesses digital technology to allow farmers to educate young people about the modern farming industry.

The initiative involves pairing farmers with classes in schools for a series of calls, through FaceTime or Skype, throughout the year.

The idea is that students have the opportunity to ask questions, and see what happens on the other side of the farmgate, with teachers able to link real-life examples from the countryside with the contents of the national curriculum in a fun and exciting way.

Home-school challenge

UK schools closed to everyone other than vulnerable children or those of key workers on 20 March, disrupting many of the regular calls between farms and schools.

But that does not mean this important dialogue has stopped.

Many of the Farmer Time pairings are continuing, with farmers providing fun and fascinating videos to schools, for example, showing lambing, which can then be shared with students who are being home schooled.

Some live sessions are also taking place for those children who remain in the classroom.

For example, one school which is paired with a dairy farm, has named a calf and continues to track its progress each call, plotting her growth on a graph.

This has gone down extremely well with the children – who range from reception age to Year Six – who have enjoyed being able to ask the farmer questions about his work.

Growing success

The Farmer Time initiative has gone from strength to strength over the past 12 months, with farmers and teachers incredibly positive about its impact.

Farmers remark that it is a rewarding experience to be able to share their knowledge and experience with children, many of whom have never even visited the countryside.

Teachers have found that it opens up the students’ eyes to a different way of life and career choices and allows them to discuss a wide variety of topics that can all be linked to the curriculum.

There are currently more than 570 established pairings between schools and farms, up from around 300 12 months ago.