The following statement was read in the House of Assembly today by the Honourable Derrick Bragg, Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture:

Speaker, Agriculture in the Classroom NL is a fantastic, hands-on program that teaches children where food comes from, and how to grow it.

Our department invests $305,000 in this program every year through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Nearly 30,000 students are learning about agriculture through initiatives like Canada’s Agriculture Day, Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month, the Amazing Agriculture Adventure, and the Little Green Thumbs program.

Right now, more than 5,000 Little Green Thumbs and Little Green Sprouts are busy growing nearly 300 gardens at schools all over the province.

As part of the program’s tenth annual harvest celebrations, students will be visiting vegetable and dairy farms, greenhouses, and grocery stores to learn more about nutrition and healthy eating.

They will also enjoy fresh, healthy food that they grew themselves.

Speaker, Canada’s agriculture industry is facing extraordinary global challenges. As always, we are working closely with farmers and producers, commodity groups, and the federal government to support this sector.

In these difficult times, our Little Green Thumbs and Little Green Sprouts remind us why a sustainable, reliable food system is so important.

Thanks to Agriculture in the Classroom NL, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Agriculture, students are making a vital connection to the hard-working farmers and producers who dedicate their lives to growing our food.

Thank you to the program staff, teachers, sponsors, farmers, and volunteers who make these important programs so successful.

Most importantly, a big green thumbs up to our Little Green Thumbs and Sprouts. I look forward to visiting you soon to meet some of our province’s future farmers.

Thank you.