By Laura Clark
LONDON – Nearly half of British primary school children have never visited a working farm and one in 25 believes farmers ‘grow mud’, a survey has revealed.
One in six children is unaware that vegetables are grown on farms and a similar proportion does not know where breakfast cereal comes from, even though most eat it every day.
One in 50 pupils believes that farmers harvest potato waffles, and one in 100 even thinks that farms ‘grow tractors’.
The findings emerged in a survey of 2000 children aged seven to 11, displaying widespread ignorance of the countryside and the origins of food.
It found that just 9 percent of youngsters have visited the countryside in the past year, while 43 percent – some 1.8million children – have never set foot on a working farm.
The survey, commissioned by Kellogg’s, also suggested that children’s lack of knowledge of food production could be affecting their eating habits.
Eight percent told researchers that if they found some mud on an apple they would simply throw it away rather than wash it.
Research by the British Nutrition Foundation last year found that one in three primary school pupils thought cheese comes from plants, while one in ten said tomatoes grow underground.
Richard Burkinshaw, of Kellogg’s, said better awareness of the origins of food is needed to encourage healthy eating.
Official figures show 18.9 percent of 10 and 11-year-olds are obese, while a further 14.4 percent are overweight. – Daily Mail