The visitor services manager with the University of Manitoba’s Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre reports the number of guests visiting the facility continues to grow.
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, officially opened in September 2011 and last month hosted its 10 thousandth visitor.
The eight thousand square foot centre features interactive displays which focus on the story of food production and four windows allow visitors to see into the University’s swine research barn.
Visitor services manager Guy Robbins says the centre welcomes a broad audience but it aims primarily at middle aged school children and families.
I think everybody can benefit.
It’s certainly based on the science and the technology that’s involved in farming so anybody who’s interested in modern science and technology, there’s a lot of concern these days about where people’s food comes from, how it’s produced, is it organic, what kind of methods so there’s a lot of information that people can yield in that way.
I think the reason we’ve done it is because now a days the population is generally urban and they tend to be becoming more remote from farming and agriculture, where their food comes from but they have a lot of questions about that so it’s good to put them in touch with modern farming, with local producers and let them see how things are produced and then make up their own mind about if they want to buy from a farmers market and direct from farmers, that kind of thing so they can make good decisions about where they’re getting their food from and ask the right questions when they’re buying their food.
Robbins says visitors have included school groups, scouts and 4-H, the general public and industry groups, attendance continues to increase and now the centre is getting repeat visitors.
