What are farmers doing for the climate? How much energy does a greenhouse consume? And how does a small livestock farmer look at animal welfare? The project "Farmer: measure of the climate!" of the Province of East Flanders supports farmers and horticulturalists to start a conversation with children and young people about these social questions. "And that conversation is much needed," says Monique Vervaet of goat farm 't Eikenhof in Lokeren.
Monique: "Ninety per cent of the children and young people who visit us have a very classic image of the farm. An image from children's books in fact, with a farmer keeping some cows, donkeys, chickens and pigs. Just yesterday, one of the children asked: where is your dog and cat? They do not see the farm as economic, but as a cosy petting zoo. Even for the teachers, agriculture is a far cry from their work."
How has this distance between citizens and the agriculture and horticulture sector grown so much? "A hundred years ago, people went to the farmer for eggs and milk, but now they buy everything in the supermarket. Citizens are also no longer allowed to visit farms everywhere, because the government has imposed strict hygiene regulations. And let's be honest: many farmers are also afraid of negative reactions. Agriculture has come under negative scrutiny more than once in recent decades. Just think of the hormone story in the cattle industry or the poisons issue. That too increases the distance."
Goat farm 't Eikenhof does get frequent visitors. "We are a care farm and have a farm shop. Moreover, we regularly have classes visiting us: from nursery to secondary school, both from regular and special education. The Province also supports these visits. Third-grade primary school teachers, for instance, can follow the 'Farm Education' programme, which involves six half-day lessons on a nearby farm. This is enriching, especially for children who prefer to learn experientially rather than from textbooks. Leverage, short chain, profit and loss ... These are things that children often understand faster when they get to work with them in practice - on the farm."
Monique and her fellow farmers increasingly receive critical questions during class visits. "When our goats lamb, we take the male lambs to the slaughterhouse. After all, they don't produce milk. Children often take issue with that. Some young people also ask about the polluting aspect of agriculture and horticulture. Then you can talk to them about the Nitrogen Agreement, but how do you do that in a child-friendly way? Many farmers have no grasp of that."
Some East Flanders farmers and horticulturalists therefore knocked on the door of Caroline Ingelbert and Katrien Baetens of the Agriculture and Countryside Department of the Province of East Flanders. The question: how can you talk to children and young people about complex issues?
"The province then took Djapo under its wing. A good choice, because you have the working methods and experience to make layered social topics understandable for children and young people. The Province then organised several sessions where Wendy, Djapo supervisor, together with the farmers and horticulturists, thought about which working forms and topics are interesting and feasible during a farm visit. We also tried out the working forms ourselves, because only then do you know what impact they have."
Wendy, Djapo supervisor: "The pressure on farmers and horticulturists is increasing. From society, they get more and more questions about sustainability and climate. Also from students visiting farms. Farmers and horticulturists need tools to formulate comprehensible and structured answers to these questions. The work forms are then a reliable guide: a guideline to which they can attach their story and tell it from different perspectives and frameworks.
The end result is "Farmer: measure of climate!", a thematic farm visit for 2nd and 3rd grade primary school classes. "The working methods we selected together with Djapo have been incorporated into a manual available to East Flanders farmers and horticulturists."
"The manual provides input for different types of conversations."
"Depending on the group visiting them, they can then choose a work format of their choice. For example, some teachers want to zoom in on the economic aspect of the farm. Then you can discuss with the students the difference between short and long chain. But equally, you might get questions about your impact on the environment. The manual provides input for different types of conversations."
So what can these conversations be about? "If students ask about our impact on the environment and the nitrogen agreement comes up, we can use the work forms to think with them about why agriculture and horticulture emit so much nitrogen. We then distinguish, of course, between industrial agriculture and family farms. But we also think about why even family farms have grown so much in recent decades. There are several reasons for this. For example, my husband's family had to go from 30 to 70 cows because otherwise they couldn't get a loan from the bank. And then you have the fact that farmers often receive a very small percentage of the price you pay in the supermarket for our products. That price also forces many farmers to grow, to produce more in order to earn enough."
"Together with the students, we map out the links between the supermarket and the farmer."
With their farm shop, Monique and Peter consciously choose to enter the short chain, a sustainable marketing system where there is a direct relationship between producer and consumer. They also discuss this short chain with students. "We recently had a class from special secondary education visiting us. They were all given a wallet with pennies with which they could buy something from our shop. Then we changed the scenario: what if you buy this product in the supermarket? Where does the money you pay go then? Then together we mapped out the different links between the supermarket and the farmer. For each link, they have to set aside some money. That way they can see with their own eyes how little of their money effectively goes to the farmer. And then you can explain that farmers who enter that long chain and want to earn enough, often have to grow in order to survive. You expose the complexity and at the same time the absurdity of the system."
Monique does stress that during class visits, you cannot talk about these complex themes right away. You have to make enough room for the 'experience' aspect first. "Pupils must first be able to see, smell, feel how a farm works. At our place, for example, pupils are allowed to help feed the animals. And teenagers can take selfies with the animals. Those steps create openness. And an open attitude is the basis of a good conversation."
Find out how the Province of East Flanders supports farm visits.
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