Connecting Urban Public to Agriculture

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Latest Pig Industry News

Thursday, March 18, 2010

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Connecting Urban Public to Agriculture

CANADA - Urban consumers will get a rare hands-on opportunity this weekend in Winnipeg to interact with agriculture and with the farmers who provide the food they eat, writes Bruce Cochrane.

Farm-Scape is sponsored by
Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork

FarmScape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council
and Sask Pork.

Discover Agriculture in the City, slated for tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday at the Forks Market in Winnipeg will bring together over 30 exhibitors representing agricultural commodity groups, federal and provincial government departments and the University of Manitoba.

Manitoba Pork Council Consumer Marketing and Community Relations Programmes Manager Susan Riese says often consumers see food delivered to the store, they take it home and prepare it but they forget there's a farmer who plants the seed, harvests a crop, cultivates a garden or raises livestock and this is a great way to make that connection.

Susan Riese-Manitoba Pork Council

This year Ag in the City has been declared an official homecoming event.

It's essentially a three day event designed to promote Canada's most vibrant industry which is agriculture to the urban public.

What it's really about is just trying to narrow that gap between the farm and the food on your plate.

It's kind of the only way that we have to be able to connect consumers back to the farm.

There's a wide interest in people wanting to know where their food comes from and this is a great way to do it.

As you know with many of our farms in the pork industry there's a lot of biosecurity that happens and people just can't walk into a hog farm and see what's going on so this is an opportunity for us and for the other commodity groups to sort of connect people with the farmer and we will have some producers there as well and it's probably as close as most people will get to that industry.

Ms Riese notes highlights this year will include an attempt at a Guinness world record largest bowl of oatmeal, a game show entitled So You Think You Can Farm modelled after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and lots of food and information.

A complete schedule of activities can be accessed at aginthecity.ca.

ThePigSite News Desk