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麻豆社 Food & Farming Awards finalist: Farmer Time

Charlotte Smith and Lucy Speed visit the first of their finalists in the Farming for the Future category at this year's 麻豆社 Food and Farming Awards.

"Farmer Time" links farmers with school teachers, allowing children to video chat with a farmer live from their classroom throughout the year, exploring the school curriculum in a farm setting. Over 10,000 children take part, doing everything from calculating how many seeds you need to drill a field of wheat, to measuring the biodiversity of a flower meadow; from exploring the impact of crime on rural businesses, to understanding genetics through the medium of cattle breeding.

"Farmer Time " was set up Tom Martin, who runs a mixed farm on the Cambridgeshire border with his parents and wife, Lisa. Tom says "Farmer Time" is a way to directly reach their customers. He says he and his fellow farmers are showing children how UK farming can contribute to food production, biodiversity and carbon sequestration. He says the goal for "Farmer Time" is after 5 years to create change in the industry...and after 10 to create social change.

The initiative has been chosen by judges, Charlotte Smith and Lucy Speed, as one of their three finalists in the "Farming for the Future" category of this year's 麻豆社 Food and Farming Awards. In this programme, Charlotte and Lucy visit the farm to find out more about how it works.

Presented by Charlotte Smith and Lucy Speed
Produced by Heather Simons

Available now

22 minutes

Broadcast

  • Sun 17 Nov 2024 06:35