For the 41st time, Aggie Days is back to teach Calgary students about food.
From Wednesday through Sunday, the Nutrien Western Event Centre is open to students and families for Aggie Days. The centre will host presenters from various agricultural backgrounds, including grain and livestock.
The first three days, April 15-17, are exclusively for some-12,000 students on pre-registered field trips. Throughout their day, students can explore interactive exhibits and activities while learning the story of food and how agriculture shapes what we eat every day, according to a Calgary Stampede-issued release.
Camden, a Grade 1 student at Aggie Days on Thursday, said that coming to the Stampede grounds beats regular school by a mile.
“Animals are fun,” he said, adding that he’d love to be a farmer and raise pigs, horses, bunnies and chickens when he grows up.
During lunch hour, students can watch novice rodeo competitions.
On the weekend, Aggie Days will open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
Brian Gross, Chairperson of the Agriculture Education Subcommittee with Aggie Days, said that no matter your background or age, everyone can learn something at Aggie Days.
“Aggie days is our attempt to provide the story of food to people who don’t have access to a rural relative or someone on a farm. They don’t know where their food comes from, what a farm makes, what kind of foods and we try to make that connection so they can feel confident and comfortable in Canada’s very safe and very abundant food supply,” he said.
For Gross, there’s no point in teaching if people aren’t understanding. Making the learning experience fun for kids has always been a priority.
“To make it fun and to make it tactile, we’ve got about 50 different displays here. There’s hands-on interactive displays, there’s demonstrations and the children come not only to feel good about food, but some of them might decide on a career in agriculture, and that doesn’t necessarily mean owning a farm,” he said.
As for his yearly Aggie Days highlights? Gross said they consistently come from the kids.
“The kids are unfiltered, and they will ask anything. Some of them are hilarious,” he said.
“I saw one kid running past me today. I heard him say, ‘Hey, I just saw a cow poop.’”
Southern Alberta’s agricultural landscape moving forward
Gross said that now more than ever, Aggie Days’ role has become vital amongst youth.
“Each generation, there are fewer people producing food for other people, and people need to know where it’s from so they’re confident and they feel good about it,” he said.
“Getting kids interested in agriculture is important because every generation is moving further from the farm and there are few and fewer farm kids growing up to take over the farm. It’s not about driving a tractor or raising a cow all the time. There’s computer enhancements, there’s drones, there’s automated equipment, there’s satellite imagery. All of this stuff is used to help produce the food in a safe, professional way.”
Even 41 years after it started, Gross said that many founders are still involved. He sees no reason that Aggie Days would slow down anytime soon.
“We’re very proud of this year, our number 41 for Aggie days. We have some of our original founders of Aggie Days who are still here, bringing in their animals and participating. So, it’s a family and lifelong event for a lot of people.”
