Local elementary students take a Bite of Brant

By Casandra Turnbull

Hundreds of area students got a first-hand lesson in agriculture this week learning right from the source how their food makes it from the field to their table Bite of Brant program volunteers welcomed over a thousand Grade 4 and 5 students from across Brantford, Brant County and Six Nations to the Burford Fairgrounds April 12&13th for the annual program that highlights the agri-food industry. Over 125 volunteers, representing a variety of sectors –dairy, beef, corn, wheat and soybeans plus much more – taught lessons in agricultural awareness. Some volunteers are third generation volunteers, including five people who have been with the program since its inception in 1996.

Prior to the introduction of Bite of Brant in 1996, there was a program called Dairy Days Using six workstations, Dairy Days educated kids on dairy farming. After the 1990 International Plowing Match was hosted in Paris, plans began to involve other commodities, which resulted in the development of the Bite of Brant program as it is today, with some modifications over the years. Initially there were 27 different agriculture related stations with classes divided into three groups, taking turns to visit each station. During the early years, preparation workshops were held for teachers to enhance their experience and for the volunteers to give them confidence, recalls Jean Emmott Bite of Brant Committee Chair. Today, the format is similar but on a much larger scale

“It’s important for students to gain an appreciation for the high quality of Ontario food and to have some knowledge of how it produces, since they are already consumers AND they are our future decision makers,” said Emmott. “Teachers are challenged to have students share their experiences when they return to the classroom,” she added.

Grade 4 Teacher Anne Parkhill from Paris’ Holy Family School has accepted that challenge.

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Who doesn’t love pizza? Students in Mrs. McCarthy’s Grade 5 class at Holy Family School get a lesson in how pizza dough is made (above). They visited several workstations which introduced the local agri-food industry and farming practices.