By Jan Robertson, OAFE Marketing and Communications Manager

Ontario Agri-Food Education Inc. (OAFE) gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association. OAFE is a not-for-profit, registered charity dedicated to increasing awareness of the agriculture and food industry in Ontario through the provision of educational programs and resources.

Throughout 2006, OAFE activities focused on raising awareness of the agri-food industry to students or the public, or raising awareness about OAFE to potential stakeholders. Along with more traditional approaches of “Agriculture in the Classroom”, OAFE became involved in several new projects aimed at raising awareness beyond the classroom. Following the strategic directions created by the Board of Directors, and supported by them, many accomplishments were made in 2006.

1. Resources Our principal focus this past year remained on our unique market niche of producing current, balanced, and curriculum linked classroom resources for teachers about the agri-food business. To date, three new print resources have been created, including Food: To Your Good Health, one each for elementary and secondary teachers; and four-page information brochures on Ontario Potatoes and the Ontario Maple Syrup industry. The cooperative documents, Better Together (Gr.4-10) and Working Together (Gr.10-12) have been revised and updated, and released as electronic resources available for download on the OAFE Web site. The Fall issue of the OAFE Update newsletter for teachers featured a colourful poster titled The ABC’s To a Healthy Lifestyle. Developed primarily for elementary teachers, the reverse side of the poster included a variety of student activities

2. Funding OAFE gratefully acknowledges the continuing financial support and guidance of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Through a three-year Memorandum of Agreement, OMAFRA provides an annual grant of $400,000 to support OAFE’s programs and services.
   Membership revenues for 2006 remained consistent with 2005, with only a slight increase from $92,000 to $94,000. Industry support for specific events and projects, other than resource development, increased from the previous year and amounted to $24,700.

3. Special Projects The inaugural Farm, Food and Fun: A Discovery Adventure program, held in partnership with Country Heritage Park on June 1st, attracted over 600 students, teachers and parent volunteers from 24 classrooms in the Halton and Peel regions to the park site. Students from Grades 1-3 were exposed to many facets of agriculture and agri-food at the education centres hosted by local farmers, volunteers and museum staff.
   Looking beyond this year, OAFE is taking the lead role in organizing and hosting the National Agriculture Awareness Conference, to be held May 22-25, 2007 at the London Convention Centre. This premier conference on agriculture awareness attracts delegates from across Canada.

4. Volunteer Connections Agri-food and rural communities understand the need for, and value of, local volunteers and so does OAFE. During the past year we have been developing stronger relationships with several volunteer-based organizations which share our interest in agricultural education and awareness. Several meetings and workshops were held as we worked closely with county federations of agriculture, fair boards and agricultural societies, 4-H groups and local agriculture in the classroom committees.
   Working with the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies (OAAS), OAFE has developed a ‘How To’ resource entitled Summary of Agri Food Education Tips and Ideas (“SAFETI” Handbook) to encourage and assist local fairs in operating a youth education day. Two copies of this new handbook were distributed to each Ontario fair at the OAAS Annual Convention in February. To further enhance these education days, the OAFE Educational Activity Sheet was developed for student participants. Over 25,000 copies of this 4-page resource were distributed this past fall at youth education days.
   And again this year, OAFE presented the Award of Excellence in Agriculture and Food Education in recognition for education initiatives at a local fair. This year’s recipient was the Ancaster Fair.

5. Awareness Beyond the classroom, OAFE was involved in several projects this past year that focused on general agricultural awareness. We took the lead role and developed the “Celebrate Food and Farming…Everyday!” poster on behalf of the entire agri-food sector. The poster was distributed to several agricultural organizations, all fairs in Ontario and every elementary school in the province.

The brochure The Farmers’ Share was created and launched at the 2005 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair and continues to be a popular piece of information used at events and programs across the province. Graphics and text from the brochure were incorporated into the OFA display at the International Plowing Match, held in Peterborough County in September.

OAFE continued to play a key role in the “To Your Good Health” exhibit at the 2006 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.

Touch-screen computer kiosks featuring an interactive Farms, Food, and Fun Agri-Knowledge Challenge offered visitors the opportunity to learn more about Ontario’s agri-food industry, and the importance of healthy menu choices. Answers to the 15 question quizzes would be tabulated for analysis at the conclusion the show.

With the support of our stakeholders, the vision of the Board of Directors and a staff passionate about the mission of the organization, we will continue to raise awareness about the agri-food industry and create an environment and structure that will facilitate growth of the organization.