Food and Farming at Fowler

Nov. 01, 2016


​The vast majority of today’s students grow up in an urban setting and have not had the opportunity to be exposed to the agri-food industry.

Ag for Life and founding partners supported a pilot project with a focus on food and farming at James Fowler High School on Sept. 27. Nearly 400 students attended several interactive sessions that focused on the following topics:

  1. GMO and pesticides –how science and technology is used to develop and test different varieties of Canola and other GMO crops – presented by Dow Chemical
  2. Innovation in Agriculture – how farmers, ranchers and the agriculture industry have adopted the use of drones, cell phones, GPS and satellite tech, RFID tags and readers (radio frequency identification tags) and robots to produce food
  3. Marketing in Agriculture – the role of marketing and how it impacts students food purchasing habits and the impact that the demands of consumers have on  farming practices – presented by Ad Farm
  4. Beef production –  how beef producers are stewards of the land and the livestock and the science behind hormone usage – presented by UFA
  5. Animal welfare – best practices for the care of  livestock (Livestock Care) – presented by Alberta Farm Animal Care (AFAC)

In addition to these sessions, students were made aware of the process of how food moves from farm to table and the career opportunities in the agriculture industry.