Helping the 'concrete children'

Once concrete cows made the headlines, when they appeared on display in Milton Keynes. Now research into the lack of understanding of the countryside by the younger generation has led to a reference to 'concrete children'.

In order to help children get in touch with the 'real world', the Government has introduced its Year of Food and Farming, which was launched this autumn by its patron, Prince Charles, at his own farm in Gloucestershire. It will run throughout this academic year.

Schools throughout the country are being offered opportunities to enable their youngsters to find out how food is grown and produced, and how to make informed choices about what they eat and about nutrition.

Events, activities and teaching resources are being organised, to support learning both inside and outside the classroom. Children can visit farms, discover what happens in the countryside and learn more about environmental issues linked to food and its production.

It would seem that for many young people there is much catching up to be done.

A report by Dr Aric Digman, entitled Agricultural Literacy, Giving Concrete Children Food for Thought, says that: 20 per cent of children in England never visit the countryside - as many as 1.1 million never leaving town or city centres a further 17 per cent have only visited the countryside once or twice and therefore more than a third of school-aged children only have a fleeting contact with rural England 27 per cent of eight to nine-year-olds have never come within touching distance of farm animals 19 per cent have never picked fruit and eaten it 25 per cent have never visited a farm shop or farmers' market.

This is a picture which Doug and Allie Cherry at Common Leys Farm, Waterperry, find all too accurate, when they invite children and their parents to visit them to be 'farmers for a day'.

Allie hears the children speak of eggs coming from the supermarket but apparently with no conception of how the eggs arrived on the supermarket shelves.

"It's good to see their faces when they get so excited at hearing that they can go and collect the just-laid eggs from the nest-boxes," she said.

During the most recent half-term holiday several families brought their children to enjoy this first-hand experience and the parents were equally eager to join in. All were able to meet the animals, feed them and give them water, having previously had the reasons for the type of food that each type of animal needs explained to them.

"So the children can really gain a contact with the animals and life on the farm when they come here," said Allie.

As well as meeting the hens, the visitors meet pigs, sheep and other animals, for as well as keeping stock commercially, Doug and Allie take in rescued farm and domestic animals. Among these are farming rare breeds.

Keeping company with their stock of Jacob sheep and a group of the larger Oxford Downs, are angora goats, including rescue case Penny, and pygmy goats. There are saddleback pigs, an elderly middle white, two rare Austrian Mangalitzas, which are of a sandy-orange colour with curly coats, and three kune kune pigs. The kune kune were rescued from a housing estate in Leighton Buzzard.

The hens, too, are of various breeds, so the children can see that there is much more to know about the supply chain of their breakfast eggs than they ever may have imagined.

They can groom Annie, the piebald cob pony and meet the miniature Shetlands who were also rescue cases. Then there are Beau, Frank and Joseph, the alpacas. Beau's likeness is now appearing at an art college in London, as he obliged a group of students by sitting - or rather standing - as a model so that they could sculpt his elegant form during an Art in Action event at Waterperry Gardens.

This is very much a family farm, for Doug and Allie's elder daughter, Charlie, works with them full-time and Joe and Beth help when they are home from school.

Among the animals with which they help are those of 'Rabbit City'. Here the visiting youngsters can learn the often unfortunately ignored fact that rabbits need company and a rabbit on its own can be an unhappy one. There are also bird and bat boxes placed around the farm and these are regularly monitored.

Local schools are among the visitors here and include a school for children with special needs, from which young people also come on work experience. One young man has gone on to become employed at the farm four days a week.

Common Leys Farm also offers bed and breakfast and self-catering accommodation and has its own Parlour Restaurant - complete with home cooking and locally-sourced food, including home-grown vegetables.

This is the other aspect about food production that children can learn, for Allie aims to source as much as possible of the food she cooks from within a 30-mile radius.

"What we serve here is not frozen or 'boil-in-the-bag', it is all fresh and local and some is organic or meets other certifications," she said.

Being able to see how food grows and is produced should enable some of the myths children seem to have adopted to be dispelled. Research for Dr Digman's report produced these remarkable answers to questions: "A lemon is from Birmingham and it grows in the ground: a kiwi grows in the ground and it's from Jamaica."

"Rhubarb is like carrots - it's what kangaroos eat. Sometimes they grow on trees without seeds."

And a child shown a cabbage responded: "I'm not sure what that one is but I've seen it in Asda. I think it's grown in the ground in Britain and other countries."

The children also seemed to have no knowledge of local dishes. Even those in the North West of England thought that (Lancashire) hotpot originated in London and did not connect Eccles cakes with Manchester. A quarter of children in the South West thought that Cheddar cheese came from the Midlands, rather than from nearer their own homes, from Somerset.

But once children are given the opportunity to become more aware of the real world, its importance begins to break through. Dr Digman found that changes in attitude quickly become noticeable. The become more in touch with what exactly the food is that they eat and even help in the kitchen at home.

The benefits are not only found at mealtimes - they become evident in the classroom. Contact with nature and the countryside brings significant physical, mental, behavioural and intellectual benefits.

"Green fingers lead to keen thinkers," Dr Digman observed. Green time, whether in the countryside, in a school garden, or in another leafy environment has significant benefits, improving children's awareness, reasoning and observation.

The Year of Food and Farming has been welcomed by the National Farmers' Union's president, Peter Kendall. "We hope that it will play a fundamental role in reconnecting children back to the food they eat and where it comes from," he said.

Schools and others who would like to be involved can contact the programme office at enquiries@yearoffood andfarming.org.uk or on 024 7685 3086.