Funding to grow food and fibre message in schools

The National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) has today welcomed the Coalition Government’s initial funding for the Agriculture in Education project. Under this project, $2 million over two years will be provided to improve understanding of agriculture in Australian schools.
NFF CEO Matt Linnegar said the funding will make a real difference to workforce development in the agriculture sector, by helping to improve student knowledge of where their food and fibre comes from and how integral agriculture is to everyday life.
The project enables the Primary Industries Education Foundation (PIEF) and AgriFood Skills Australia to develop a range of agriculture-based online teaching resources for schools across the national curriculum.
“Research undertaken by PIEF found that 76% of students believed cotton socks were an animal product, and 45% of students and teachers believed farmers damaged the environment,” said Mr Linnegar.
“These alarming results show how important it is for us to educate our kids about the relationship between agriculture and everyday activities, from the food in our lunch boxes to the clothes that we wear.
“This funding commitment, which the NFF called for in our submission to this year’s Federal Budget, will allow PIEF and AgriFood Skills Australia to deliver important interactive, multimedia resources, videos and downloadable PDFs for teachers and students from Kindergarten to Year 10.
“We commend the Coalition Government for recognising the importance of agriculture in the Australian community. This funding will go a long way to promote a positive and vibrant agriculture sector to our leaders of tomorrow,” said Mr Linnegar.
The NFF is a founding member of PIEF, which was established to provide national leadership and coordination of food and fibre education initiatives across Australia.
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