Program gives students some hands-on experience with food systems
From student-run markets to a seed stewardship program, an environmental group is helping kids connect with their community via food.
Youth in Food Systems (YFS) started back in 2017 as Waterloo Region School Gardens with the initial focus of building gardens around the region. They have multiple gardens in and around the township, including at John Mahood and Riverside public schools in Elmira.
YFS is a program offered by Seeds of Diversity, a seed stewardship organization.
Following the success of the garden program, the organization realized there were other efforts they could also be supporting.
'What caused us to switch from building gardens to having several programs we run that are focused on getting youth into learning about and building skills in food systems and exploring careers related to food and food systems,' said YFS program manager Andrew Jackson.
In 2021, YFS ran some of its first programs, including its first youth-run market in July. Jackson told The Observer that these markets allow young participants to run all aspects of a farmers' market.
They are holding 21 market days across Waterloo Region this year, which sells fresh produce using a pay-what-you-choose model. The produce is grown by youth teams at six school garden spaces and farm partners.
'During the summer, we run three markets where the youth, again, do everything. They talk with the farmers. They think about how to display and price produce, and interact with the customers. We help guide them through that process,' said Jackson.
YFS not only expanded the programs it offered, but was also able to expand across Ontario through virtual activities, including their Food Leader Interview Series.
They are entering their fifth season of the program in which students across Ontario sit down and interview industry professionals.
'It challenges youth to work on and build their interview skills, think about what it takes to interview and ask good questions. Allowing them to build confidence, they get to interview a food leader somewhere in Canada.'
YFS hopes to expand past just Ontario this year by getting six of the 12 interviewers from different provinces and territories for this program season, added Jackson.
One program that Jackson is excited about is YFS's Seed Stewardship Program, which allows students to learn about seed stewardship and provide seeds for the following years. It currently provides seed for schools in the Waterloo Region, but they're looking to expand.
'One hope we have for the seed stewards program is that next year we're able to open it up so that schools and educators and youth outside of Waterloo Region can request seeds and get seeds from it, that we can just support a lot more schools in being able to access these resources,' he said.
They have created an inter-school seed library with seeds available to school communities and youth in Waterloo Region.
'We hope that next year we can hopefully double it again, or at least be able to continue to expand the number of schools that see this,' said Jackson.
'We want to give them as much support in making that accessible so they can have the biggest impact on their youth.'
All these programs have in common that they emphasize teaching youth hands-on skills and communication, added Jackson.
'Skill-building is 100 per cent a key focus in every program. Some of the programs require more of the staff, jumping in and making sure that they meet their goals if they need to. But the ultimate goal is to have youth take on and lead with them as much as we can.'
Jackson added that one of the major goals of the program is for the youth involved to take these skills into the future, no matter what they do.
'Our hope is really that youth build skills, build knowledge that then benefits them in the long run, past when they go to university or when they go into the trades or when they get a job after school.'
More information can be found online at
www.seeds.ca/schoolfoodgardens
.
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