The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) work extremely hard in the area of education to ensure that pupils have every opportunity to learn about all thing’s food; from its farm origins and production process to the importance of local farming and food production in NI, creating a better understanding on how high-quality food is produced.
The UFU has created a dedicated education section on its website where the public can find virtual farm tours, a cookery demonstration showcasing how farming changes throughout the seasons, seasonality calendars and more, alongside running numerous competitions for all stages of education throughout the year!
Education videos for primary school pupils
The aim of the videos is to showcase the hard work, care and effort that goes into producing high quality produce, alongside delivering the farm to fork message.
Craighall Farm is a dairy, poultry, fruit and vegetable farm and throughout the educational video, William and Claire provided pupils with a greater insight into their farming practices, what products are produced from milk, tips and tricks on how to grow your own delicious fruit and vegetables and more!
‘Springtime on the farm’ features UFU member, Peter McCann. Peter takes pupils on a virtual farm tour on his beef and sheep farm and discusses what happens throughout the season on his farm, the various breeds of sheep and why they were selected, upland and lowland farming practices and also features his trustee collie dog out shepherding.
The UFU and the Livestock & Meat Commission NI produced a virtual farm tour and cookery demonstration for pupils to enjoy. cooking up a delicious recipe! The virtual cookery demonstration features Beattie’s farm, Glenpark.
Twinkl partnership
The UFU joined forces with Twinkl to help primary school children understand what happens on Northern Ireland farms. The new teaching resources provide children from urban as well as rural areas with an opportunity to understand the origin of food and the all-important role that farming families play in NI’s economy.
Through the new partnership with Twinkl, the UFU have developed a range of ready-made resources for teachers, corresponding to all stages of primary education. This includes a farming through the seasons and food seasonality calendar with worksheets to reinforce the farm to fork message and how farming changes throughout the various seasons. The aim of the resources is to enhance pupils learning in ‘the world around us’ and ‘personal development and mutual understanding’, showcasing the farm to fork message and how farmers’ work hand in hand with nature to produce nutritious food for consumers.
To view the resources click here, or for more information contact Lynsay Hawkes, lhawkes@ufuhq.com.
