The 'National Dairy Council School Farm Visit' series comes as NDC research shows that more than half (56%) of children under 12 in Ireland have never seen a cow being milked.

According to the NDC, just 39% of parents with children under 12 say their child has seen a cow being milked, while 5% did not know. 

The findings also highlight a rural/urban divide, with 57% of urban parents saying that their child has not seen a cow being milked, compared with 51% of rural parents.

Regional breakdowns show that parents in Munster are the most likely to say their child has seen a cow being milked (44%), compared with 39% in Dublin, 38% in Leinster, and 30% in Connacht/Ulster. 

To address this gap in awareness and to help reconnect schoolchildren with farming and food production, the National Dairy Council is conducting a number of school farm visits involving up to 1,500 children across 25 schools and five host farms.

NDC School Farm Visit series

The NDC School Farm Visit series will look at two of those farms, and examine how the initiative benefits both schoolchildren and participants in the EU School Milk Scheme.

The series will run for three consecutive weeks:

Week 1: We visit the farm of Leo O'Connor near Tralee, Co. Kerry as the school visits get underway.
Week 2: We meet with Co. Cork farmer, Rickey Barrett on his farm, as he welcomes several groups of school children.
Week 3: Emma Walls, CEO of the National Dairy Council speaks to us about the importance of school visits.

Tune in to Agriland for the next three consecutive weeks to learn more about this initiative bringing Ireland’s schoolchildren closer to the origins of their food.