The Alberta Rural Development Network is conducting a quick expression of interest survey to guide its development of an agricultural education initiative. If you're an educator or producer, or are otherwise interested in ag-focused education, take a few moments to answer a few online survey questions.
This school farming initiative will aim to introduce hands-on farming practices into schools to provide students with an opportunity for experiential learning. This project aims to improve grade 7 - 12 student’s understanding of agricultural practices, impact food security levels of students through capacity building, and increase overall public trust in Alberta agriculture. The project would consist of: - developing a detailed toolkit on how to incorporate and sustain farming practices into school settings - pilot projects to apply the methods of the toolkit For more details regarding the FarmEd project, please contact Shelby Rowein at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Please respond to the survey by Friday, July 17, 2020.
More About This Initiative
The contemplated FarmEd program will be linked to the Alberta education curriculum and cover topics such as water quality, soil health, animal welfare, climate change, and more. ARDN would gather feedback and work with schools throughout this initiative to ensure the toolkit is comprehensive. School farm pilot projects could include small livestock such as bees, chickens, and turkeys, as well as horticulture.
The mission of the Alberta Rural Development Network (ARDN) is to support the sustainability of rural communities. We collaborate to bring focus to rural issues, build local capacity, and find innovative, rural-based solutions to unique issues.
With FarmEd, ARDN hopes to partner and collaborate with agriculture industries, local schools, businesses, farmers, senior citizens, and community members to connect the public with each other and their local food system.
At this time, ARDN is exploring various funding opportunities to support this project. Through this survey, we would like to identify how much interest there is from schools in Alberta to receive and use this toolkit if it were developed, and to participate in initial pilot projects.
For more details regarding the FarmEd project, please contact Shelby Rowein at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
