Ontario Agri-Food Education Inc. (OAFE) gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association. OAFE is a not-for-profit, registered charity dedicated to increasing awareness of the agriculture and food industry in Ontario through the provision of educational programs and resources.

Throughout 2007, OAFE activities focused on raising awareness of the agri-food industry to students or the public and raising awareness about OAFE to potential stakeholders. Along with the more traditional approaches of “Agriculture in the Classroom,” OAFE became involved in several new projects aimed at raising awareness beyond the classroom.

Following the strategic directions created and supported by the Board of Directors, many achievements were made in 2007. Highlights from the past year include:

1) RESOURCES

The development and production of current, balanced, and curriculum-linked classroom resources about agriculture, food and nutrition continued to be the focus of OAFE’s activities throughout 2007. Five new print resources were created, including: Climate Change and You!; Meeting the Challenge (Gr.9-11); The Pesticide Debate (Gr. 9-12); Freggie’s Eat Smart Nutrition Unit (Gr. 3); Nutritious and Delicious! Vegetables and Fruit (Gr. 1-8); and VeggieMania (Gr. 3-5). OAFE also developed the Teacher’s Guide to support the Virtual Farm Tours CD, an educational awareness project of the Ontario Farm Animal Council. OAFE’s trivia game, Farms, Food: Fun An Agri-Knowledge Challenge, originally developed for the Journey to Your Good Health booth at the 2006 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, was updated and made available in DVD format for teachers to use in the classroom. The Agri-Knowledge Challenge is a fun, interactive way to teach students in grades 4-10 about food production, nutrition, agricultural innovation, and general agriculture.

Two issues of the OAFE Update newsletter for teachers were featured as mini-resources on timely topics that supported elementary curriculum. The Spring issue, Every Day is Earth Day, focused on information and activities related to environmental topics, while the Fall issue, Nutrition and Canada’s Food Guide, provided activities that reinforced healthy eating as outlined in the new Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating.

A new venture for OAFE, is a fun and interactive Web site - www.farmsfoodfun.com - where kids can explore farming, food and nutrition. Launched at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, this project was a co-operative effort between OAFE, the Ontario Farm Animal Council and AGCare. Anchored by the Agri-Knowledge Trivia Challenge Game, the site also features games, educational fact sheets, and craft activities.

2) VOLUNTEER CONNECTIONS

Over the past few years OAFE has made a commitment to work closely with and support other volunteer-based agricultural organizations which share a desire to promote agri-food education. We expanded our initiatives in this area in 2007 by attending several events and conducting workshops for local ‘AITC’ groups and fairs attending the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies convention.

We also provided educational materials to teachers attending local AITC and fall fair educational programs. Students attending these events were each provided with a copy of a new 48-page Fun Food Facts Activity Book which covers nutrition and agriculture from A to Z. OAFE continues to recognize the efforts that these individuals and groups put forth to support agri-food education. Two volunteers were honoured at the annual meeting in March, a tradition to be continued each year. To recognize those fairs that work diligently on their youth education days, OAFE presents the Award of Excellence in Agriculture and Food Education. Binbrook Fair was the 2007 recipient of this award.

3) AWARENESS

OAFE again worked closely with the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (RAWF) in creating the “Journey to Your Good Health” (JTYGH) exhibit for 2007. In addition to our regular Teacher Resource Centre, our JTYGH booth gave OAFE the opportunity to promote the importance of the agriculture and food industry to the general public. New this year was a large red apple display that featured the launch of our new children’s Web site. The premier agricultural awareness event in Canada is the National Agriculture Awareness Conference (NAAC), hosted every 12 to 18 months by a different province.

OAFE provided the lead role in organizing the many people and committees that worked on the 2007 conference hosted by Ontario, May 22nd-25th, at the London Convention Centre. Approximately 165 delegates from across Canada and a handful from the US, Australia and Brazil, participated in workshops, presentations and tours over the 3-day conference. This highly-respected event brought national and international recognition to OAFE’s role in promoting awareness of the agri-food industry. The 2008 conference will be hosted by Newfoundland from August 3rd-6th in St. John’s.

OAFE continues to partner with Country Heritage Park on a program initiated in 2006. For the second year in a row, Farm, Food and Fun: A Discovery Adventure was presented to elementary students from Halton and Peel regions. In this self-directed program, students visit a variety education centres to learn about many different facets of agriculture from local farmers, volunteers and museum staff.

4) FUNDING

OAFE gratefully acknowledges the continuing financial support and guidance of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Through a 3-year Memorandum of Agreement, OMAFRA provides an annual grant of $400,000 to support OAFE’s programs and services.

Our membership support has grown over the past few years, although membership revenues in 2007 remained consistent with 2006, with only a slight increase from $94,000 to $95,000. To encourage continued funding growth and reflect a growing corporate need for flexibility in support programs, a new membership category, “Corporate Innovator” ($7,500) and a new non-member “Donation Support” schedule were created in 2007.

With the support of our stakeholders, the vision of the Board of Directors and a staff passionate about the mission of the organization, OAFE will continue to raise awareness about the agri-food industry and create an environment and structure that will facilitate growth of the organization.