Growing Connections

November 29, 2022

We believe food connects us all – and that understanding where our food comes from empowers tomorrow’s decision-makers, consumers, and innovators.

We’re working hard to make sure every student in Manitoba understands the importance of agriculture in their lives.

We call this understanding agricultural literacy.

We build agricultural literacy by growing connections

Connections between students, the food they eat, and the proud Manitobans who produce it.

Connections between teachers and our engaging, high quality, curriculum-linked programs and resources.

Connections between our province’s agriculture industry and young minds eager for opportunities to shape its future.

Connections between a growing community of people like you who are proud of Manitoba’s agriculture industry and its enormous contributions to our world, and who are looking for ways to make a difference.

When we fail to grow connections like these, students grow up believing myths and misconceptions. They miss out on opportunities to learn about meaningful careers in an industry that has endless room for passions and interests of all kinds. The gap widens between each of us and the Manitobans working so hard to feed our province and the world.

The impact of agricultural literacy

Here are some of the ways we’re growing connections this year to deepen our impact on agriculture literacy.

1. We’re growing connections with students

AITC-M programs, resources and activities are being sent to classrooms in a huge way this fall. With teachers downloading over 1,300 resources from aitc.mb.ca, September was our biggest month on record.

Classrooms have been engaged with resources like the Manitoba Seed Kit, a hands-on resource that introduces Grades 3-6 classrooms to the diversity of crops grown right here in Manitoba by providing real seed for them to identify.

2. We’re growing connections with teachers

Little Green Thumbs & Little Green Sprouts

Our classroom gardening programs continue to grow.

This fall, we accepted eight new Little Green Thumbs gardens (Grades 3-12) and five new Little Green Sprouts gardens (K-2). We hosted 44 teachers, 12 of them new to the gardening program, at Kelburn Farm in October for professional development sessions, where they learned more about growing an effective garden and other programs and resources that can nourish agriculture literacy in their classroom.

There are now 95 classroom gardens sprouting in Manitoba classrooms, each one introducing students to where their food comes from and how it grows.

Eat Well launch

Telling the “whole plate” story of Canada’s new Food Guide, Eat Well: Exploring Canada’s Food Guide is an all-new resource for Grades 5-8 classrooms released by AITC-M in October. Over 170 kits have been sent out already, with display materials and playing cards designed to teach students about healthy eating and have direct connections to the grade 5 science curriculum.

Journey 2050 and Exploring Digital Ag presentations

Teaching high school students about sustainability in agriculture and the future of high-tech careers in the agriculture and food industry, these two programs have made a full force return to in-person presentations.

From June through December, staff have or will be presenting Journey 2050 to 52 classrooms and 964 students and Explore Digital Agriculture to 28 classrooms and 577 students.

thinkAG Career Expo

On November 22, AITC-M staff and volunteers put on the first thinkAG Career Expo in Manitoba, setting up stations and presentations for grade 10 students at Kildonan East Collegiate to help them learn about career opportunities and the diversity of what’s available in the agriculture and food industry. It's just one way we're highlighting career exploration — check out five ways we encouraged people to get involved during Canada Career Month in November.

3. We’re growing connections with industry partners

Credit Union Central Manitoba

On November 2, we shared our story with CUCM, resulting in new connections in an industry closely connected with Manitoba producers, teachers and students both in Winnipeg and in rural areas.

Foundations of Manitoba Agriculture

Our new virtual resource hub would not have been possible without incredible support from Peak of the Market and other local commodity groups and organizations who ensured that educators and students have access to the most accurate, balanced, current information available.

Since launch in September, FOMA has been our most-visited program or resource on aitc.mb.ca, with over 900 unique visitors and 31 fact sheet downloads.

Presenting to commodity partners

Growing connections with industry partners is about more than building sponsorship opportunities – it’s about strengthening our community and expanding our capacity to reach students and teachers.

4. We’re growing connections with government support

Careers programming

The labour market gaps in Manitoba’s agriculture industry have never been wider. But thanks to a significant investment from the Canadian Agriculture Partnership, we’re developing programs and resources to inspire students about the variety of career possibilities and opportunities in Manitoba’s agriculture industry.

Your support helps us connect to more

Connecting with every student in Manitoba – that’s a lofty goal. But we believe it’s possible, and necessary. From 2020 to 2021, we increased the number of educators we worked with by 116%. And that number keeps on climbing! And the greatest news is that for the first time in our history, our participating educators were from every school division in Manitoba!

We’re good at what we do, and that means demand for AITC-M’s programs and resources also continues to climb. There’s even a teacher wait list for some of our offerings.

Our resources and programs may be free for teachers, but they still cost money to develop and deliver. Government funding isn’t enough to help us meet the demand.

Your donation can offset some of the costs of developing and delivering our programs and resources.

Here’s how your donation can make an impact today

$50 helps us reprint our popular resources like the Agriculture Innovation Timeline Game for Grade 4-8 students.
$100 sends one Eat Well kit to a classroom where students in Grades 5 to 8 can learn to make good food choices through fun, interactive activities.
$250 sends a Manitoba Seed Kit to a science or social studies teacher who wants her Grades 3 to 6 students to have a hands-on experience learning about our most important crops.
$500 covers the cost of an in-classroom Career Case presentation, where one of our staff guides students in Grades 9 to 12 through an exploration of how their own skills and interests fit into agriculture careers.
$5,000 covers the cost of a classroom garden where students can discover the joy – and power – of growing their own food.