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Ontario Grain Farmer Magazine

New STEMterprise Educational Program Brings Agriculture to Ontario Classrooms

10-week program brings together agriculture and STEM curriculum.

August 21, 2023 – Guelph, Ont. – Good in Every Grain, the public outreach campaign from Grain Farmers of Ontario today launches an award-winning science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program for Ontario Grade 3 classrooms.

Good in Every Grain’s Ontario Farming STEMterprise is a unique teaching resource based on Ontario grain farming in coordination with the Ontario elementary school curriculum. The Farming STEMterprise program created by the National Farmers Union United Kingdom (NFU U.K.) brings agriculture into the classroom in a fun and exciting way for students and teachers alike.

“Supporting teachers is a huge priority for us. We know how much work is being done to help Ontario’s children grow and learn. We also recognize that teaching agriculture can be daunting if you are not a farmer or working in the industry. STEMterprise is a great program for aligning agricultural knowledge and experiences with the current teaching curriculum. We hope students enjoy this 10-week program and feel more connected to their food and farming,” says Victoria Berry, Manager, Communications, Grain Farmers of Ontario.

The program meets the Ontario curriculum requirements in several subject areas, including Science and Technology, Health and Physical Education, Engineering, Language, and Math, in 10 stages of weekly lessons and activities. Lesson plans use several skill sets as they lead students through growing grain seeds in their classroom, conducting a market survey of existing granola bars, creating their own nutritious granola bars to meet consumer, or other students, needs, marketing, designing sustainable packaging and selling their product at a “farm store.”

This program, offered at no cost to Ontario teachers, will allow students to learn where their food comes from, how food gets from field to fork, and how farmers protect the environment while meeting the increasing demand for food. Students will also develop business, entrepreneurship, and sales skills as they create a classroom bake sale with their granola bar businesses.

Good in Every Grain is excited to launch this program and bring the importance of agriculture back into classrooms, one grain at a time. Ontario Farming STEMterprise materials can be found for download at https://goodineverygrain.ca/ontario-farming-stemterprise/. •.

About Good in Every Grain

Good in Every Grain is the Grain Farmers of Ontario public outreach campaign. Good in Every Grain reaches over 100,000 people annually across Ontario to provide trustworthy information about grains, grain farming, and Ontario grain farmers.

Contact: 

Victoria Berry, Manager, Communications – 226 820-6641; vberry@gfo.ca

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Grain Farmers of Ontario
Grain Farmers of Ontario is the province’s largest commodity organization, representing Ontario’s 28,000 barley, corn, oat, soybean, and wheat farmers. The crops they grow cover over 6 million acres of farm land across the province, generate over $4.1 billion in production value, result in over $27 billion in economic output and are responsible for over 90,000 jobs in the province.