The visitor services manager with the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre reports traffic through the facility continues to rise as the public becomes more aware of its existence.
The University of Manitoba’s Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre tells the story of where our food comes from and how it gets from the farm to the consumer’s plate.
Guy Robbins, the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre’s visitor services manager, says the intent is to gradually build up attendance to 30 thousand visitors per year as awareness builds and he estimates five to six thousand people have visited since the centre opened last fall.
People are much more interested in where their food comes from.
I think people more and more realize that they are what they eat and so it’s important for them to get local produce and know what is in their food because there have been a lot of incidents with food security, that kind of thing and so people are very interested in what makes up their food.
It’s important for us to let them know what they should be doing with their food but also where their food comes from.
And also tell them I think, agriculture in Manitoba is very important, a big industry, a big part of the economy and so people should be aware of the great role that agriculture plays in Manitoba.
Food is going from Manitoba all over the world and so people should be aware of that and I think people are interested in that too.
Robbins says, based on the response of visitors, the centre has quite an impact on people as they learn about what it takes to produce food and the importance of food in the future as the world’s population continues to build.
To learn more about the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre, visit farmandfooddiscoverycentre.ca or FFDC.ca.
