Educational farms are growing in Tuscany (+14%). I am 208 agricultural companies which are transformed into summer campuses to welcome, in absolute safety, boys and girls with many activities to carry out in the open air following the rhythms of nature and the seasonality of agricultural products, farmyard animals and agriculture. The campaign thus becomes a classroom full of stimuli where our children can have healthy and authentic experiences. Cell phones turned off and no YouTube, the days fly by between excursions in the woods and the care of the farmyard animals, between manual workshops on peasant supply chains and rural games, “lessons” on ecology, nutrition and sport without forgetting the holiday tasks to be carried out below the foliage of centuries-old trees. 70% of parents dream of this type of holiday for their children. This is what Coldiretti Toscana says on the basis of Ismea-RNN findings on the occasion of the opening of registrations for the summer campuses. There were 181 educational farms registered in the list in 2020.
“The success of educational farms responds to a specific and growing request from families to connect their children with nature to disconnect them from the routine and stress accumulated during the winter. – explains Michela Nieri, Coldiretti Regional Women Business Manager – The experience of our educational project in schools which allowed us to involve, in two years, almost 40 thousand students with classroom lessons and visits to companies, opening up the world of educational farms to many families. Farms do not only produce vegetables, fruit, milk, they also have a social function and community service, allowing, in this case, many parents to reconcile work time with family time. There are thousands of children who, this summer, between June and September, will participate in the campuses on our farms. It’s an experience that will change them forever.”
Educational farms are an opportunity born thanks to the orientation law (18 May 2001) desired by Coldiretti and grown thanks to the green sensitivity of Italians who seek open spaces and contact with nature but also the possibility of feeding children healthy, good, genuine and zero km products. Educational activity on farms is often accompanied by agritourism activity as is confirmed by the fact that, according to Istat data, there are 197 Tuscan agritourisms that carry out educational activities with a surge of 170% in ten years. There were 73 in 2011.
No two campuses in the countryside are the same. Every experience is unique. The activities proposed by the companies are among the most diverse and original, ranging from bee and milk workshops to learn more about the life of shepherds, to workshops where you can learn to cook, from excursions in the woods to the discovery of flowers, plants, courses of water and biodiversity. And more horse riding and work in the field. All made even healthier by zero km snacks and tastings of local products.
The summer campuses are an important part of the educational project promoted by Coldiretti Tuscany, Coldiretti Women’s Business And Friendly Campaign and collaboration of the regional school office which this year alone involved 20 thousand students from schools of all levels in the region. The project, which will be repeated again next year, includes classroom lessons by farmer tutors together with visits to farms with the aim of promoting a healthy, varied and balanced diet starting from the seasonality of agricultural products and rural life.
For information www.toscana.coldiretti.it, official Facebook page @coldiretti.toscana, Instagram @Coldiretti_Toscana, Twitter @coldirettitosca, official YouTube channel “Coldiretti Toscana” and Telegram channel “coldirettitoscana”
Source: Press Office
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