AgScape Celebrates Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month 2024 With Educational Initiatives Across Ontario

AgScape, a charitable organization dedicated to providing innovative agriculture and food education to Ontario educators and youth, is pleased to commemorate Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month (CALM) 2024 with a lineup of engaging initiatives to foster agriculture and food literacy among K-12 students across Ontario.

Launched in 2012 by Agriculture in the Classroom Canada (AITC-C), the national voice for agriculture education in Canada, CALM is celebrated annually in March to enhance awareness, understanding, and appreciation of Canada’s agriculture and agri-food sector among youth in Canada. This month-long initiative offers students in all ten provinces educational experiences to discover Canada’s remarkable agriculture and food story.

“Our farmers have an incredible story to tell, and Ag in the Classroom is helping them share their stories with students right across Canada,” said the Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. “Young people are the future of the sector, and Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month is one way we can inspire students to be curious about how their food is grown and to consider a career in agriculture.”

“Ontario has a thriving agriculture and food industry, and it’s incredibly important that young people across the province learn about that, both from the perspective of a consumer and as a possible career path,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. “Through their valuable initiatives, AgScape is presenting the facts about Ontario's agriculture and food industry and creating awareness of our diverse and leading-edge industry, which in turn supports our Grow Ontario Strategy goals of increasing the consumption of Ontario-grown food and attracting more people to pursue the amazing jobs across this industry.”

As a proud Ontario member of AITC-C, AgScape will be offering the following programs, resources and events during CALM 2024 to students and educators across Ontario:

• Teacher Ambassador Program: AgScape’s skilled Teacher Ambassadors will deliver in-person and virtual curriculum-linked lessons on various agriculture and food topics for grades 4-12 students.  
• Teacher Discovery Kit: Elementary and secondary teachers can order Teacher Discovery Kits containing curriculum-linked lesson plans and activities to integrate agricultural concepts into their classrooms seamlessly.
• Virtual Field Trips: K-12 students and teachers can join live Virtual Field Trips to explore Ontario’s agriculture and food system and meet industry experts.
• Camp AgScape: Students 5-18 years old can go on their own agriculture and food education journey online at Camp AgScape, a self-paced online learning platform. Camp AgScape is now also available in French to support the needs of Francophone students and teachers.

“Celebrating Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month is about more than acknowledging the importance of agriculture education. It’s about engaging deeply with our complex agri-food systems and how they affect everything that we do,” said Mira Lyonblum, Executive Director of AgScape. “By prioritizing this education, we recognize how critical the roles are of every person involved in making sure that we have sustainable, accessible sources of food and the role that each of us plays. Our activities during CALM also underscore our collaborative efforts to share the need for more people to seek out careers across the whole agriculture and food sector and the awesome impact they have.”