The competition, now in its third year, aims to engage and inspire future generations about farming and food production and highlight the many career opportunities available in the land-based sector. See how your secondary school (Years 9 to 11) can enter this year’s competition.
The competition, now in its third year, aims to engage and inspire students from Year 9 - 11 about farming and food production and highlight the many career opportunities available in the land-based sector. Secondary schools from across the UK are being encouraged to enter the competition.
This year's competition is all based around the question 'Will farmers continue to be the guardians of our land and environment?' and the best responses to the online form will win, for the first time, up to one of ten semi-final on-farm visits.
The semi-final on-farm visits, which take place with LEAF’s team of Regional Education Consultants, will see students being asked to answer a hypothesis using their experience on- farm, combined with wider research, and present their response. The recorded presentations will then be judged, to win an exclusive weekend experience on a real working farm at Coleg Cambria Llysfasi, in the Vale of Clwyd, North Wales. The finalists will be invited to bring up to three students and two teachers to a weekend experience to learn more about food production and farming at Coleg Cambria Llysfasi in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. At the end of the weekend, one school will be crowned the ‘Innovation school of the year 2021 in food, farming and environment’. The finalists’ weekend experience will take place from the 22 – 24 October 2021, including all food and accommodation.
The finalists’ weekend, which will be made up of fun and educational activities based around the college farm, will take place at Llysfasi. Llysfasi is a land-based college with departments in Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Animal Care and Forestry and Countryside Management. The college farm is 970 acres and is a mixed enterprise commercial farm, which includes a dairy herd, sheep, beef, crops and forestry. The college also has an Animal Management Centre and an industry leading Agricultural Engineering workshop and latest tractor and machinery technologies. Throughout the weekend students will experience milking cows, handling sheep, whilst understanding the role that drone technology has to play in producing food. They will also get to visit the agri-forest, see countryside management in practice, and will even have a go at tractor driving and experience the driverless technology used by the agricultural industry. They will also see other modern technology used in today’s farming practices and much more.
You and your students will cover a range of educational topics, focused around the competition title and you will compete in answering an hypothesis over the weekend - the winning school team will be crowned the ‘Innovation school of the year 2021 in food, farming and environment.’
First launched in 2018, the competition has had a significant impact in opening young minds to what farming delivers as well as issues around health, wellbeing, sustainability, climate change and career opportunities. In its first two years, 12 out of 33 students who took part in the competition, went on to apply to study at land-based colleges, with all students reporting that it had changed their perception of the farming industry and helped them with their studies back at school.
Secondary schools looking to apply need to complete the online form below. The form is to be answered by a teacher who has a passion for food, farming and environment.
Competition deadline: 30th April 2021
