Both the ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ and ‘Cook Your Own Potatoes’ projects from Potato Council are making an important contribution to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) Education Strategy 2012-17. Potato Council, supporting the British potato industry, is funded by potato growers and trade buyers and is a division of the AHDB.
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The five year Education Strategy brings together the six AHDB divisions and a number of other organisations to provide a range of curricular activities to educate five to 16 year olds about food production and farming. This increased collaboration will deliver greater educational impact as well as better value for money for levy payers.
Grow your own potatoes:
the harvest
Potato Council education co-ordinator, Sue Lawton, said: “Education is a clear priority for Potato Council. Learning about potatoes - where they come from, how they grow and their use in healthy, balanced diets – will help young people build positive, life-long eating habits.
“Grow Your Own Potatoes is now firmly established in the school curriculum for key stages 1 and 2, benefitting over one million children, while the recent introduction of Cook Your Own Potatoes takes this a step further by giving secondary school pupils the know-how to prepare healthy and tasty meals.
“Grow Your Own Potatoes is now firmly established in the school curriculum for key stages 1 and 2, benefitting over one million children, while the recent introduction of Cook Your Own Potatoes takes this a step further by giving secondary school pupils the know-how to prepare healthy and tasty meals.
“As part of the AHDB Education Working Group, we can continue to grow both of these projects as well as those of our partners to drive home a clear, cost-effective and consistent message about the importance of food and farming to schools.”
The AHDB Education Strategy will:
- Increase awareness of where food comes from and how it is produced by levy payers with care for the environment
- Develop a positive image of farming
- Raise awareness of the positive contribution made by levy payer produced food within a healthy balanced diet
- Deliver greater value for levy payers by maximising collaborative educational opportunities and building AHDB’s reputation with stakeholders
- Encourage the development of food and meal preparation skills in line with Food Standard Agency food competencies for young people
