University News for June 23, 2011

The visitor services manager with the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre says the new facility will help meet a growing demand from the public for more information about the production of the food they eat.

The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre, located at the University of Manitoba's Glenlea Research Station, home to the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment, is now conducting guided tours by appointment and will open to the public next month.

The facility offers a variety of exhibits and activities that tell the story of the science and technology involved in getting food from the field to the consumer's plate.

Guy Robbins, the centre's visitor services manager, observes the public has become increasingly disconnected from the farm.

Clip-Guy Robbins-University of Manitoba:
If you look back to just after the Second World War in the late 40s early 50s, Manitoba was much more of a rural place.

People were much more connected, maybe a first or second generation connection to farms, or they had relatives or friends who had farms, they went to farms, and now today, it's much more of an urban population.

People have much less of a connection to farms, but I think that the interest in food and where it comes from is much more highlighted because of environment, sustainability, population growth, all of the food security, all of these are important issues now.

People are much more connected globally to the world through the Internet and that kind of thing, and so there's a lot of interest in it, but people need a way to connect and to find out about the issues, and really find out more about what's going on in farming, so that's hopefully the gap that we'll be kind of filling and giving them good information, and then they can make up their own minds about what they think about food security and what needs to be done.

Anyone interested in booking a tour can visit farmandfooddiscoverycentre.ca, ffdc.ca, or call (204) 883-2524 for more information.

For UniversityNews.Org, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

*University News is a presentation of the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Agricultural & Food Sciences