Farmers are beaming into urban classrooms to give city children a taste of rural life thanks to a new educational programme.
Every two weeks, Christchurch teacher Brigid Ladley and her students have a FaceTime call with Hawkes Bay farmer Pat Crawshaw while he's out and about.
Brigid Ladley and some Year 2 students at St Michael's Church School Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Ladley teaches Year 2 students at St Michael's Church School.
Thanks to the Farmer Time programme, her students can watch what Crawshaw is doing in real time as he engages with them directly.
The inquisitive children love asking ask Crawshaw questions which cover a wide range of topics, Ladley says.
These include "why lambs are tailed", "can cows hear very well?" and "how does electricity travel down a wire?".
"It's opening their eyes to a whole different world," Ladley tells Country Life.
Farmer Pat Crawshaw engages with the Year 2 students Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Ladley thinks Farmer Time is vital as it has the potential to bridge the urban-rural divide.
"Children need to know where their food is coming from. It's that farm-to-table thing where they need to see the whole picture."
She urges other teachers to adopt the programme and bring real farming life into their students' lives at an early age.
"Huge learning is coming out of this, whether it's geography, science... we bring maths into it, language, the whole lot!"
