New schools resources focus on dairy farming
DairyCo has worked with the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) to produce a new set of resources for schools aimed at helping children of all ages understand more about British dairy farming, how milk and dairy products are produced and how they form a part of their diet.
The resources include five filmed case studies for secondary schools that focus on UK dairy farming, animal health and welfare, the environment and sustainability, different farming systems and how dairy products are made. For primary schools there are six interactive stories about where food comes from, healthy eating, and cooking.
Diane Cannon, DairyCo schools and education manager says, understanding where food comes from and how it is produced is very important, not only because it helps individuals make more informed choices about their diet but because many children dont have the opportunity to interact with farming directly. These resources have been designed to support that.
Working with the BNF means that all these resources are available on the Food – a fact of life website, which is funded and developed in conjunction with all AHDB sector organisations, The All Saints Education Trust and the BNF. The site is increasingly popular with teachers, providing resources for pre-school through to secondary, and receiving nearly a million visitors a year. Our recent research with teachers has shown that Food a fact of life is a key route for more opportunities to regularly deliver messages about British dairy farming and dairy production into the classroom.
The resources are available at: www.foodafactoflife.org.uk or via the School Milk section of www.dairyco.org.uk.
Food – a fact of life provides a progressive approach to teaching about healthy eating, cooking, food and farming from 3 to 16 years. The site provides a wealth of free resources to stimulate learning, ensuring that consistent and up-to-date messages are delivered.
These new primary and secondary resources have been developed by the British Nutrition Foundation, and are supported by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) milk sector organisation – DairyCo. The resources have been tested in schools and are suitable for schools throughout the UK.
DairyCos aim is to promote world class knowledge to British dairy farmers so they can profit from a sustainable future.
To achieve this DairyCo aims to:
- Ensure farmers have access to world class information needed to improve competitiveness, GHG reduction and productivity
- Ensure farmers have access to direct and indirect support to help them improve their profitability through better business management
- Ensure that dairy farming is reducing its impact on the environment
- Ensure farmers understand the benefits of breeding and use the related tools
DairyCo is funded entirely by milk producers, via a statutory levy on all milk sold off-farm, at the rate of 0.06p per litre. This provides an annual income of around 6.5m.
DairyCo is a division of the statutory levy board, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB).