Farmers' market goes into kindergarten: kids love eating bean sprouts they grew themselves, and the white butterflies come to steal a bite

Text / A-mao Shi (Manager of the NCHU Organic Farmers' Market)

Over the past nearly ten years, farmers' markets have sprung up across Taiwan, China like bamboo shoots after rain, taking on the role of a bridge between urban residents and agricultural producers and serving as an intermediary communication platform, so that through the market platform producers and consumers can exchange their questions with each other. Consumers can become more aware of the food on their dining tables, and producers can also adjust their crop choices and cultivation habits based on consumer feedback.

In recent years, food and agriculture education has been unfolding vigorously, and the market itself is an excellent venue for food and agriculture education. From encouraging consumers to use eco-friendly tableware and shopping bags as a routine environmental practice, inviting producers to serve as instructors to share production experience, farming methods, or farmhouse cooking, to leading consumers to actually walk into the fields and take part in a small portion of farm work, experiencing the hardship of the production process, seeing is believing and making actual visits to enhance mutual trust and connection.

How can the market expand participation, truly enter the community, take root in the community, and create connections with the communities around the market? We tried combining food and agriculture education with kindergarten education so that parents and children can participate together. Below, based on the experience of the NCHU Organic Farmers' Market, I share with you the food and agriculture education courses currently being promoted.

Note: Supplementary content - What is food and agriculture education and its ten major goals

Dong Shirui and Cai Changjuan (2016) define food and agriculture education as "a kind of experiential education that emphasizes 'doing it with your own hands.' Through personally participating in the complete process of agricultural products from production and processing to cooking, learners develop simple food-growing skills. In this process, learners are also cultivated to understand the source of food, improve their ability to choose food, and promote the development of healthy eating habits. In addition, through the labor experience of farming, learners can develop respect and gratitude toward food, producers, and the environment, and stimulate their life resilience and firm character."

The ten major goals of food and agriculture education are as follows:

1. Understand the original appearance and original flavor of food, and strengthen tasting and sensory education.
2. Understand the value of balanced nutrition and the intake of a diversity of foods.
3. Develop simple food preparation skills.
4. Understand the concept of "food miles" and locally sourced ingredients.
5. Understand the impact of diet and agricultural production on the natural environment.
6. Understand the risks of over-processed foods and chemical additives.
7. Develop good dining etiquette and respect for life.
8. Develop simple agricultural production skills and experience its hardship.
9. Understand the seasonality of crops and the diversity of varieties.
10. Understand the unique production skills and food culture of local agriculture.