Roots of Bruce introduces students to agriculture
WALKERTON – Roots of Bruce is a memorable event for the hundreds of Grade 5 students who get an up-close-and-personal introduction to agriculture – so memorable, in fact, that many of them come back a few years later as high school volunteers, helping out with the two-day event.
Other volunteers include members of local service clubs, farmers, and of course, members of the Walkerton Agriculture Society.
Some of the volunteers at this year’s Roots of Bruce, April 18 and 19, have been part of the event since its inception, grew out of the 1993 Bruce County International Plowing Match and Rural Expo.
Elaine Lang, took a few moments during Roots of Bruce to speak about the history of the event, and its importance to education.
She began by discussing the 22,000 students from four counties who went through the IPM’s educational programming in 1993 and said, “We couldn’t let it die; we have to keep this going.”
And that’s just what happened. A committee began meeting in 1994 with the various commodity groups, she said, and Roots of Bruce … took root.
“April 1995 was our first,” said Lang. Now, 30 years later, the 27th Roots of Bruce, featuring 24 stations in three buildings, with everything from alpacas and dairy goats, to giant state-of-the-art machinery and pumpkins, kept up the tradition of teaching students about the importance of agriculture – 300 each of the two days.
Lang noted this should have been the 30th anniversary, but one year got cancelled due to an ice storm, and then there were the two years of COVID.
And the event just keeps getting better.
Fun? Indeed! The students are treated like the important citizens of tomorrow they are, including an excellent Bruce County lunch (thank you, Women’s Institute), and producers who are delighted to share their excitement about what they do.
The students eagerly went from station to station, learning along the way, and gaining insight into what continues to be not only a key economic driver in this area, but the industry that feeds the world – agriculture.
Even more exciting for Lang is the knowledge that the event that started it all, the International Plowing Match and Rural Expo, is returning here in 2026.
About Roots of Bruce
Since its inception in 1995, well over 20,000 students have experienced Roots of Bruce, a unique, community volunteer-based event.
As stated on the Roots of Bruce website, there have been many highlights over the years - the introduction to Canada’s new Food Guide presented by the Grey Bruce Health Unit, the climb-on harvesting combine provided by Soils and Crops, the sheep shearing demonstration using a hand-powered shearer, a healthy snack demonstration given by local chefs, a “Veggie Freddie” act by Ontario Foodland, and an Agri-Food trivia contest, “Are you smarter than a fifth grader?”
In 2000, Diane Wall’s class from Hillcrest Central in Teeswater wrote and performed “The Bruce County Farmer” song on the radio.
This year, Addison MacDermid, a Grade 3 student at St. Joseph Catholic School in Port Elgin designed a new logo for Roots of Bruce. There were 30 entries to choose from, but Addison’s was special.
Pauline Kerr, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Walkerton Herald Times
