Educators

Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Resources

Learning about healthy eating, and the importance of local food production within the larger food system leads to greater food literacy and healthier life outcomes. Classroom learning can be supported through other school-related activities to reinforce practices that promote healthy choices.

Fresh from the Farm healthy school fundraising provides schools the opportunity to raise funds by selling fresh, Ontario grown fruits and vegetables to your community. As educators, you may be looking for resources you can use in your lesson plans to enhance the learning experience related to food, healthy eating and agriculture.  The organizations and related resources listed below will provide you with information, activities, recipes and ideas you can introduce into the classroom.

Fresh from the Farm: Healthy Fundraising for Ontario Schools

Since its launch, the program has helped over 3,000 schools sell more than $6 million worth of Ontario grown fruits and vegetables, equating to over five million pounds of product. This has resulted in $2.2 million being raised by schools and $3.5 million being returned to local farmers.

School Food and Beverage Policy

Legislation: Healthy Food for Healthy Schools Act, 2008 

Policy: PPM 150: School Food And Beverage Policy

Program Implementation

Resources

AgScape

AgScape offers teachers a classroom connection to Fresh from the Farm.

What's in it for Educators? As the voice of Agriculture in the Classroom, AgScape provides free agri-food programs and educational tools, such as the online Agri-Trekking gamified resource, which will help you introduce the topics of local food and healthy eating to students. In addition, AgScape offers numerous curriculum-linked and cross-curricular food and agriculture lessons that provide an excellent extension to the Fresh from the Farm fundraising activities. For more information visit http://www.agscape.ca

Ontario Federation of Agriculture

Learn about the six by sixteen initiative encouraging children to learn new recipes and enjoy cooking.

Foodland Ontario

The Foodland Ontario website is home to fresh cooking ideas, food facts and a nutrition guide.

Farm & Food Care

Farm & Food Care, cultivates appreciation for food and farming in Canada by connecting farm gates to our dinner plates. Farm & Food Care is a coalition of farmers and associated businesses proactively working together with a commitment to provide credible information and strengthen sustainable food and farming for the future. Read all about it in The Real Dirt.

What's in it for Educators? Welcome to the Canadian Virtual Farm Tour site. You’re only a click away from visiting a number of real, working Canadian and Ontario farms. Move your mouse or Click on any of the farms listed on the index below. By doing so, you’ll be able to take a peek inside the barns and fields to find out more about each. You’ll meet the farmers who put food on our tables 365 days each year; you’ll see the animals that live on many of these farms and you’ll learn about the work that goes into growing a wide variety of crops. http://www.virtualfarmtours.ca/

Ontario Apple Growers (OAG)

The OAG represents over 200 apple growers in Ontario. Check out their website www.onapples.com to:

  • Learn about all the different varieties of apples grown in Ontario
  • Watch videos and take a virtual tour of an Ontario apple orchard 
  • Learn what it takes to get Ontario grown apples from orchard to your plate
  • Meet some of the nearly 200 apple growers and their families

More than a Migrant Worker

Thousands of skilled international seasonal agricultural workers choose to work on Ontario farms every year to help our farmers and local farm workers plant, harvest and get their crops to our tables.  Learn about the important role seasonal agricultural workers play as part of our food system and food security as well as their personal stories at: www.morethanamigrantworker.ca