According to research carried out on behalf of Agri Aware, the Irish agri-food educational body, in advance of its National Open Farm Day which takes place on the May bank holiday Monday, 6th, nearly 9 in 10 adults living in urban areas (89%) think food education should be mandatory in primary schools, with those aged 45-54 most likely to believe this to be the case.
Almost 9 in 10 adults living in urban areas claim healthy eating should be covered in Primary Schools as a component of food education. This is followed by food safety (75%), cooking (71%) and growing and sowing seeds (60%).
The research was released by Agri Aware in advance of its National Open Farm Day which will take place on Bank Holiday Monday, 6th May 2019.
PASTURE TO PLATE JOURNEY
Commenting on the research Agri Aware Executive Director, Deirdre O’Shea who herself has a background in Human Nutrition said: “Events such as Open Farm are vital to engaging an increasingly urbanised society in the pasture to plate journey of their food. We are seeing worrying trends emerging in childhood obesity in Ireland and empowering our young people with the knowledge to make healthy food choices is vital.
“Consumers may be aware that agriculture plays a key role in the Irish economy, but unless you are directly involved in the industry its relevance can be lost when in reality agriculture impacts on all of us.”
This unique event aims to bring Agri Aware’s mission “to improve the understanding of agriculture and the agri-food industry” to life in an engaging and a holistic way – bringing consumers on the full “pasture to plate” journey of their food.
Three farms across the country – in Crosshaven, Co Cork; Fieldstown, Co Dublin and in Co Kildare – will simultaneously open their gates free of charge to the public and will allow consumers a rare chance to experience first-hand what happens on a working farm and allow them to learn more about where our food comes from.
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