Manitoba Association of Watersheds funds Agriculture in the Classroom

Thanks to newly announced funding from the Manitoba Association of Watersheds, Agriculture in the Classroom- Manitoba will be able to continue its programming in schools across the province.

Agriculture in the Classroom-Manitoba (AITC-M) provides curriculum-based programming that connects students and teachers from Kindergarten to Grade 12 with the world of agriculture and all that encompasses, including business, science and technology, engineering and math, the creative arts, economics, farming, culture, social studies and more.

On Thursday, the Manitoba Association of Watersheds (MAW) announced $40,000 that will be delivered

to AITC-M over the next three years. The MAW represents Manitoba’s 14 watershed districts, and in partnering with AITC-M, both organizations will be able to educate young people across the province about agriculture and water stewardship and why it’s important.

As the Sun previously reported, March is Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month (CALM). Starting this month, AITC-M has been introducing a “Caring for OurWatersheds” resource to early years classrooms across the province to engage students in Grades 2 to 4 about water education. The students learned why watersheds are important, what Manitoba farmers can do to keep them healthy, and what every Manitoban can do to protect them.

Manitoba’s watershed districts are committed to improving watershed literacy within local communities in Manitoba, said Lynda Nicol, executive director of MAW.

“We at MAW are thrilled to have the opportunity to build on that principle province- wide through our partnership with AITC-M,” she said. “We are honoured to work alongside them to build watershed resources into their lesson plans.”

Individual watershed districts have long been supporters of AITC-M and it’s goals of educating students in Manitoba about agriculture, Nicol said. “Watershed districts are really dedicated to providing balanced education within their jurisdictions and within their local communities, and many of them have worked with AITC-M before,” she said. “But this new three-year partnership was made on behalf of our team members to further the inclusion of watershed resources with AITC-M.”

It’s important that children are educated from a young age and then consistently throughout their time at school about watersheds, because it helps to encourage their understanding and foster a sense of ownership and community to recognize the role that they can play in improving how water is managed, Nicol said.

“As a long-term goal … we’re very aligned with AITC-M in that we’re looking to educate children at a young enough age and with repeated contact throughout their school careers, so that when they graduate they understand that there are career opportunities available to them in agriculture and that those career opportunities can be and are environmentally sustainable.”

Manitoba has an abundance of water, but that water needs to be protected and conserved appropriately, and all water users must respect the systems that are in place to protect watersheds, Nicol said. The more informed children are, the more likely they are to explore the topic on their own, whether out of their own curiosity or as future studies at college or university and in their career paths.

Watershed and agricultural knowledge are interconnected, said Executive Director of AITC-M Katharine Cherewyk.

“We are so grateful for the MAW’s support. This partnership is a testament to what can be achieved when organizations come together for the greater good,” she said.

In addition to the watershed education that is taking place this month for CALM, AITC-M is already planning more watershed resources and content for students in middle school and high school. These students will be able to use the resources to take a deeper dive into the ways that agriculture and watershed stewardship is linked and discover proactive measures the agriculture community is undertaking to protect the future of the province’s watersheds.

“We really are enriching the understanding of students about what happens in our community, and [are] guiding them towards sustainable actions, but also [towards] thinking about how those actions create conditions to have food on their plate as well,” Cherewyk said.

All of the materials that AITC-M provide schools with is completely free, and supplemented by visits from people who fill many different roles in the agriculture industry. Teachers are able to adapt the materials into their curriculum and use it repeatedly with new students, Cherewyk said.

“We’re just getting lots of really great feedback about the resources and visits from volunteers who do the resources with them.”

Miranda Leybourne, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Brandon Sun