Students at Greentree School had the opportunity to learn about agriculture from farmers with decades of experience.
The Verdant Valley Ag Society reached out to Greentree School to give students a chance to learn about and understand more about one of Alberta’s most important industries.
“Ask a Farmer” was held on Friday, June 11, which is Farmer’s Day in Alberta. The event featured a Zoom discussion with farmers Martin Larsen, Brad McDougald, and Ron Leonhardt, adding up to decades of experience.
Lynn Hemming, who helped to get the program going, says they have never done an event like this, although they used to arrange to put on displays, and sometimes classroom presentations.
Leonhardt says the students had some really good questions.
“It would have been really nice if we could have been in the classroom, but overall I think it went really well,” he said. “The kids really seemed to enjoy it.”
He explains the second Friday of June is Farmer’s Day, and in the past country schools would have a holiday, but this is no longer the case.
“The questions were good, and the teacher did a good job of getting their kids organized,” said Leonhardt.
He says an important component of their presentation was to clear up some misunderstandings of the industry.
McDougald said there were different levels of understanding of farming.
“Some of the questions were very basic, it shows they didn’t know a lot about animals, where food comes from, and how much food comes from grain, which if you are not in the industry, how would you know?” he said. “Fewer people grow the food for everyone, so the disconnect from the farm is getting bigger, and the more things like this we can do… It’s a really good idea.”
“We all do this job because we love it. It is a career we are very passionate about.”