One-thousand Grade 5 students and teachers from various public, catholic and private schools across the City of Brantford and the County of Brant, descended upon the Burford Fairgrounds for the 30th annual Bite of Brant event, which took place on Tuesday, April 8 and Wednesday, April 9, 2025.
The educational program, which won an Excellence in Agriculture Award in November of 2024, is designed to teach students about the local agriculture sector, and instill them with an appreciation for high-quality Ontario grown food.
During the event, farmers and educators alike were set up across 20 different stations, each representing the various commodities of the County’s agri-food industry. Classes were split up into two groups and the youngsters rotated between each station every 12 minutes, asking questions and getting hands-on experience.
Jean Emmott, a dairy farmer, retired educator and a member of the core planning committee, said that since the students are at an age where they’re becoming more aware of the world around them, the program provides them with a new perspective on the role of food in their everyday lives.
“By Grade 5, they’re at the point where they’re starting to prepare some of their own meals or helping their younger siblings, so it gives them something to think about,” she said. “They’re often going to the grocery stores with their families and so now they’ll know to look for that Foodland Ontario or Maple Leaf ‘Product of Canada’ label. At this stage as well, they’re also starting to look at careers and thinking about what they might want to do when they grow up; they’re also our future decision makers, so when an issue arises down the road, hopefully, they will remember some of the input that they’ve gained today.”
Over the course of the event, students got to learn about honey bees, soil health, the early history of agriculture, what the inside of a chicken egg looks like, as well as various farming equipment and careers.
Several viewing areas also had many youngsters in awe of the sheep, goats, piglets and cows that were on site, and they enthusiastically asked questions as they learned about the care that goes into raising livestock and the processing that follows.
With an overall pizza theme to the day, the students gained an understanding on how even fast-food first starts in the farmer’s fields. Each group got hands-on experience in milking procedures with a life-size cow model, grinding wheat into flour and planting their own basil and tomato seeds.
Emmott said that one of her favourite parts of the program is seeing everyone actively participating.
“It’s wonderful to hear from the volunteers that the kids are so engaged, and to see the look on those kids’ faces,” she said. “And it’s not just them, but the teachers and the parent volunteers as well; it’s so important that we are making the adults just as aware of the program and the content as we are the students.”
Jennifer Guest, a Grade 4/5 teacher from Mt. Pleasant School, has been to Bite of Brant five times now, and she said that the best part is always seeing how the kids light up.
“My favourite part of the day is seeing the kids having that connection with agriculture, with nature, and seeing the joy in their faces as that’s happening,” she said. “Seeing that expression on their face when they have those ‘wow’ moments, like learning how much a tractor costs, is always so great.”
Guest added that she appreciates how much her students can relate what they’re learning at Bite of Brant, back to their curriculum in the class.
“It’s really nice for the kids to see the animals, learn about things that they may never be exposed to otherwise, and to see where their food comes from,” she said. “There’s tons of curriculum connections to math, science, social studies, and even health too. We actually just learned how to read a food label in our health and nutrition class, so it’s great that they can make that connection, but that they’re also learning things that are yet to come in our curriculum that we can tie to this later. It’s just a wonderful program and it’s super well organized too.”
Emmott later said that none of this would be possible without the generosity of all the volunteers who have been involved year after year.
“I have to give a big congratulations to the 100-plus volunteers and the core committee. They do such an amazing job and we are so blessed to have each of them, as well as the support of their families,” she said, with a smile. “Actually, we have three families here where the third generation of farmers are now volunteering as presenters, and about ten or 12 that are second generation too. On top of that, we also have six stations, and another five volunteers who have been here all 30 years, as well. That commitment from all of our volunteers, it’s really important and it’s what has made the program a success.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
