New Food and Farming Education Programme Launched

by scotlandfoodanddrink. - 21/09/2011

"VION Food Group (VION) has teamed up with the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET) in a three-year deal to help provide educational farm visits for Scottish schoolchildren."

Over 30 pupils from Cargilfield School in Edinburgh kicked off the programme during Scottish Food & Drink Fortnight (3rd-18th September) with a visit to Craigie’s Farm at South Queensferry, where they were met by representatives from VION, RHET, the Royal Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS), and Scotland Food & Drink.

VION Food Group is one of the UK’s leading food manufacturers. Based in Livingston, the business has extensive facilities across the UK, from farms and hatcheries to primary production, processing and packing. It employs almost 3,500 people throughout Scotland.

The comapny will help fund the provision of buses for visits and local co-ordinator costs while its Scottish-based livestock procurement officers will help recruit farmers for farm visits by schools.

RHET staff will also visit a VION processing plant to familiarise themselves with the firm's range of operations, which also include hatcheries, farms and feed mills, and to explore other areas which could benefit RHET.

VION Food Group’s UK chief executive, Ton Christiaanse, said: "We are delighted to support the valuable work of RHET.

"Scottish farmers have some of the highest animal welfare standards and as a farmer-owned business and a major Scottish farmer in our own right, we are passionate about farming and food and recognise our responsibility to help improve levels of understanding of the role that farming has in our local communities today."

RHET, the charity that receives its core funding from RHASS, currently engages with one in eight Scottish schoolchildren, taking over 15,000 children out to farms each academic year in a bid to see every child in Scotland to learn about food, farming and the countryside, and to create a wider understanding of the environmental, economic and social realities of rural Scotland.

Alison Motion, RHET manager, said: "We are delighted that VION has come on board. They have their own pig and poultry farms as well as many farmer suppliers in Scotland, both livestock and cereals, and we should be able to extend our farm visits programme to give children an insight into livestock production and processing.

"We are grateful for their support and look forward to working with VION management and staff over the coming months."

RHET is run as a charity and receives its core funding from the Royal Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS).

Other operating costs are covered by grants and funds from a number of trusts, companies and funding organisations, including the Scottish Government, VION Food Group Ltd, SNH and NFU Mutual Charitable Trust. All RHET resources and services are free to schools in Scotland.

More Details: http://www.scotlandfoodanddrink.org/news/article-info/2740/new-food-and-farming-education-programme-launched.aspx