Will farmers continue to be the guardians of our land and environment?
It’s back for another year with many more chances to win on-farm experiences for your school!
You could win one of up to ten semi-final places to win an on-farm visit for your students (Years 9 -11) to focus on sustainable food production, farming practices and management of our environment. Additionally, our finalist schools then win an activity filled weekend away for up to 3 students and 2 teachers in beautiful North Wales in the Vale of Clwyd – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
This year’s competition has returned in a new and exciting format that ensures more schools than ever before can get involved and offersthe chance to experience food production, farming and the natural environment first hand.
You are invited to submit an application explaining why you feel that your school deserves a place in the competition: the benefits it could have to your students and your thoughts on what place agriculture has in today’s society. Should we care where our food comes from? Does the media fairly portray how our food is produced and those who produce it? Do we need to give young people the opportunity to experience this first hand?
The semi final on-farm visits will take place with one of our LEAF Regional Education Consultants in your area, who are qualified teachers and experienced educationalists. During the visit your students will answer a hypothesis using their experience on farm combined with wider research and present their response. The recorded presentations will then be judged and the winning schools will be invited to bring their very best students to a weekend experience to learn more and experience food production and farming at Coleg Cambria Llysfasi, Ruthin, North Wales. And finally, one school will be crowned the ‘Innovation school of the year 2021 in food, farming and environment’
The finals weekend experience will take place from the 22nd – 24th October 2021
Representatives of the finalist schools will spend a weekend on Llysfasi’s working commercial farm. Now in its third year, the competition offers you and your students immersion into the world of food production, farming and environment. Llysfasi is a land-based college with departments in Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Care and Forestry and Countryside Management. The college farm is 970 acres and is a mixed enterprise commercial farm, which includes a dairy herd, sheep, beef, crops and forestry. The college also has an Animal Management Centre and an industry leading Agricultural Engineering workshop and latest tractor and machinery technologies. The National Competition is a collaboration with LEAF Education – which worksto engage, inspire and motivate young people through experiential learning, in order to equip our future generations with balanced and informed insight into food production, farming and the environment. LEAF Education delivers CPD to teachers, trainee teachers and works with 1000s of schools and 100s of 1000s of young people across England and Wales.
The finalists’ weekend will be made up of fun and educational activities based around the college farm. You will experience milking cows, handling sheep, understand the role that drone technology has to play in producing your food, see countryside management in practice, visit the agri-forest, even have a go at tractor driving and driverless technology used by the agricultural industry. You will also see other modern technology used in today’s farming practices and much more.
To be in with a chance to win this experience, you will need to submit your answers to the questions here.
The weekend will present a range of educational topics, focused around the competition title, for you to compete with the other finalist schools. We welcome responses from teachers and/or students. Responses are to be completed by Friday 16th April. Successful schools will be notified by the 30th April. Semi-final farm visits will take place at a convenient time to suit the school, including a travel bursary (where necessary) between May-July 2021. The finalist schools will be notified no later than 16th July. The finals weekend will take place 22nd – 24th October 2021.
