Canola Learning Centre

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Canola Learning Centres (CLCs) made a splash at major events across western Canada this summer. The hundreds of thousands of consumers visiting these festivals were also exposed to information about the production of canola and canola oil.

The CLC program was created to educate urban children about canola and agriculture by bringing them to the farm. CLCs in Manitoba, Saskatchewan,Alberta and Ontario receive funding from provincial grower groups and the Canola Council of Canada. Local organizations and industry sponsors also provide funding, facilities and staff assistance.

The Manitoba Canola Growers Association (MCGA) raised its profile in June by participating in the Farm Fun Zone at the Red River Exhibition (the Ex) in Winnipeg, MB. MCGA has exhibited at the Ex in previous years but this year took the event to a new level. MCGA’s CLC display centred on a 1,350-bushel grain bin adorned with flags of canola-importing countries and filled inside with food and non-food products made from canola.

Organized school tours came to the Farm Fun Zone on the Ex off-hours, bringing in more than 800 students and teachers. During public hours, approximately 56,000 people visited the Farm Fun Zone and had the opportunity to view the CLC.

The heart of the CLC program is its on-farm activities. This summer marked the sixth season of canola education at the Manitoba CLC at James Richardson International’s Kelburn Farm, south of Winnipeg. Teachers say that what students learned this year continues to be as relevant and fascinating as it was six years ago.

"We learned new things but also reinforced concepts we had talked about in class," says Grade 3 teacher Monica Bailey of Robert H. Smith School in Winnipeg. June tours are exclusively for Grade 3 class field trips. In July and August about 600 day care kids visited Kelburn Farm.

MCGA Education and Promotion Co-ordinator Ellen Pruden also helps organize the Agriculture in the Classroom event Amazing Grains, which takes place in Brandon, MB in June and in Winnipeg in September. Grades 4-6 students participate in hands on activities like crushing canola seed to identify green seed, looking for strands of DNA in an onion and many of the same activities that are available at Kelburn. MCGA Directors interact with students and share their knowledge of farming. About 2,300 students take part in Amazing Grains.

All four provincial organizations and the Canola Council have collaborated to bring a CLC to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, ON for the past two years. About 10,000 consumers are exposed to the canola messages presented at the Royal.