East Midlands MEP Glenis Willmott is to get an insight into The Co-operative Farm at Stoughton, near Oadby, and its work to educate and inspire children about food and where it comes from.

She is on a fact-finding visit to the farm on Friday, 2 October, where she will join children from Brookside Primary School, East Leake, near Loughborough.

The youngsters are visiting the farm as part of The Co-operative’s innovative “From Farm to Fork” educational programme. Children spend a day at the farm and experience for themselves where food comes from, and how to create healthy meals to take home to their families.

Glenis, Labour’s Leader in Europe and a member of European Parliament’s Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee, said she was looking forward to learning more about the “From Farm to Fork” initiative.

“It is important to help children understand where their food comes from, and what better way to do so than by allowing them to spend time on a farm?” she said.

“I am really looking forward to joining the pupils for their visit to The Co-operative Farm at Stoughton. This visit will also be helpful to me, since a lot of the rules and regulations about our food, how it is labelled and so on, are now decided in the European Parliament.”

Nick Padwick, Farm Manager at The Co-operative’s Stoughton estate, said: “We are delighted to welcome Glenis Willmott and to have a chance to show her what we do here. Our educational visits are an important part of the farm, but we are also a busy working commercial farm growing crops, many of which are sold in Co-operative food stores across the UK.”

Background

“From Farm to Fork” is an award-winning outdoor learning experience which teaches primary school children about where their food comes from, and aims to inspire them to get passionate about food. It is part of The Co-operative Community Plan, which shapes its community and campaigning activity, and includes its commitment to supporting the positive contribution that children and young people can make in their communities. The Co-operative Community Plan will support more than 100,000 young people during 2009.

1 October 2009