Ag in the Classroom Manitoba Celebrates 30 Years

Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba (AITC-MB) celebrated its 30th anniversary Wednesday night during an event held at Richardson's Kelburn Farm south of Winnipeg.

About 100 people attended the celebration dinner in the evening, with an AGM held during the afternoon.

Executive Director Sue Clayton commented on one of the highlights from the annual meeting.

"We launched our pillars of agricultural literacy, which is a new initiative on behalf of the board of Agriculture in the Classroom and it's really going to take us to that next level of planning our resources and planning our program so that by the time a student graduates from high school we know they'll be agriculture literate and they'll be consumers that are able to think critically about how their food is produced and what food they're buying."

The six pillars include:

- Agriculture and the Environment

- Agriculture and Food, Fibre and Energy

- Agriculture and Animals

- Agriculture and Lifestyle

- Agriculture and Technology

- Agriculture and the Economy

In 2018, AITC-MB reached about 30,000 students in 180 schools in Manitoba. Around 716 volunteers participated in events throughout the year.

Clayton noted they reached over 8,000 students last month during Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month.