By Debbie James

FROM time to time we host school visits to the farm, to help children learn more about food, farming and the countryside.

During a recent visit, when the children were being shown the bulk tank where the milk is stored before collection, one little boy asked where we stored the semi-skimmed milk. A perfectly logical question given that his only connection with milk up to that point was the blue, green and red-topped cartons at the supermarket.

There is always a question or two that raises a smile but over the years what has become clear is that while children in some respects know more about food production, they understand less. For instance, they might know that a cow produces milk but think that her milk is different to what they buy in the supermarket.

Some might argue whether it really matters if the relationship children have with food does not extend beyond the journey from supermarket shelf to their plate.

As a farmer’s wife, a lover of the countryside and a mother, I believe it does. I think it is extremely important that future generations know how we look after the farmland here in Pembrokeshire, and the significance that has for them.

On average, school children in the UK are more than six generations removed from farming. This is more than any other society in the world. This disconnect manifests in many ways, but perhaps most damningly in undervaluing food and the countryside that it comes from.

There are other consequences too. Many children no longer understand life cycles, seasonality and the relationship between resource protection, sustainability and the food that they eat.

Out of every three bags of groceries that leave the supermarket, the average household will throw the equivalent of one away.

Food champions like Jamie Oliver are making good progress in reconnecting people with their food but we must be reminded that the food comes from our farms not our supermarkets, and that the farmer’s role as a custodian of the fields and all the habitats that surround them goes much further than just producing things to eat.