This University of Manitoba project is breaking new ground in getting non-farmers to know about, and care about agriculture
The word discover is one of those words that means the opposite of what it used to. Today, to discover something means to find it out for yourself. In the old days, to discover something meant to uncover it or to reveal it to someone else.
It’s a useful thought to keep in mind when you learn about The Food Discovery Centre, the University of Manitoba consumer education facility that has been breaking the rules, even hiring a professional museum curator to help tell agriculture’s story to non-farmers.
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By “discovering” agriculture to urban audiences, the centre helps consumers “discover” where their food comes from.
If it sounds like something that boosts the energy level, says visitor services manager Guy Robbins, then you get the point exactly.
Check it out yourself by going to the centre’s website, http://umanitoba.ca/afs/discoverycentre/.
The gulf between city children and the farm is all too wide, Robbins tells me. “We ask them where food comes from and they answer ‘the grocery store,’” he says. “People today don’t know any farmers.”
Robbins has an extensive 20-year background in museums and discovery centres, and says the food centre is all about finding ways to bridge that gap.
The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre officially opened Sept. 16, 2011, with visits of test groups having begun in May.
The centre is run by the university’s faculty of agricultural and food sciences, and it is both a research station and an operating farm on the edge of the city.
The original idea was to give visitors a chance to see a conventional hog barn on site. “With biosecurity being a major concern with livestock, the faculty first thought to just add windows to a new hog barn that was being built,” said Robbins. “From there, the idea grew.
“The thinking was that if we were going to be letting people look into a hog barn, we should really also be explaining to them what they’re seeing — the process of raising livestock and the research that goes into hog farming,” he says. “We then thought to not only do livestock but also crops.”
The main goal is to share with visitors how their food gets from the farm to their plate.
The faculty set up a committee of producers, exhibit consultants, and educators who worked for nearly five years planning which exhibits to showcase, and ended up taking a “close the loop” approach, incorporating everything from farming to agricultural science and research, food production, grocery stores, and people’s personal kitchens.
Not only do visitors learn about agriculture, they also learn about potential careers in the sector.
“Farming is no longer just the farms — although, of course, that’s the main area,” Robbins says. “There are all different career segments supporting farmers that help bring food to our tables.”
When visitors enter the centre, they take a pathway that goes all around the building and they view some of the Manitoba research currently underway. Topics range from food production and genetic research to environmental protection and manure use, with lots in between.
The centre also has a crop section that focuses on how crops are produced and the importance of water and different nutrients, plus the effect of insects and the weather. “We also look at what kind of food can be made from the different crops, and how microbes can be used in food production — like yeast for bread, the making of beer from barley, and the use of live bacteria in milk for cheese and yogurt,” says Robbins.
The livestock section of the centre is where visitors can look through four windows into the hog barn — learning how hogs are produced, including their nutritional and water intake. There, visitors also get a bird’s eye view of egg production and the design of egg-laying crates for chickens.
The centre doesn’t hide the science of modern agriculture. Consumers see how producers use science to design poultry housing to mimic natural bird habitats, with scratch pads, dust bowls, and perches. On the hog side, they can use an ultrasound to see if a sow is pregnant or if she’s in good condition for pregnancy.
In this section, visitors can also check out feed systems that provide the right amount of nutrition for each sow. There is also a grain silo, tractor cab, and state-of-the-art technology currently being used on farms for all to see.
Although the centre does go a little bit into the business side of agriculture, Robbins says, “The focus is more on hands-on education — getting people curious enough to research the subject further.
“There are other agricultural museums that tend to be more focused on the heritage, historical side of things — how people farmed in olden times — but there aren’t many places focused on farming today,” Robbins says. Currently, the centre attracts three main audiences — the general public, schools (mainly Grades 4-8), and the industry itself — trying to make it fun and understandable for all.
“When visitors come, they’re generally here for one or two hours, so we’re only scratching the surface,” says Robbins. “Still, we get them interested… we’re planting seeds which will hopefully germinate at different points for different people along the way.” CG
