National potato producer Greenvale AP, with a base near Chirnside in Berwickshire, have sponsored a local initiative with a £400 donation, which allows children to visit a working farm and see how food is produced.
The initiative, called "From Farm to Fork", is run by The Co-operative at seven of their farms around the UK, including The Co-operative Farms’ Hirsel Estate near Coldstream, which has been hosting visits from schools since September 2007.
Sally Fleming is the project leader at The Hirsel Estate. She leads the outdoor learning experience, where primary school children learn how to identify seeds such as wheat, see the countryside and hedgerows, and learn about the seasons. They also have the opportunity to see how wheat is used for food, by cooking their own scones.
The visit inspires children to become passionate about food, and how to cook with fresh, good quality ingredients. The £400 donation from Greenvale will help provide transport for classes from the local area to enable them to spend a day at The Hirsel. Transport is often a stumbling block for schools who would like to take part in this type of initiative but do not have the resources to provide a bus.
Doug Bell, General Manager at Greenvale AP, said: "We are committed to making a positive contribution to the communities in which we work. We know that some schools lack the funds for transport to the farm, but this should not prevent them from experiencing the benefits of spending a day there. Our donation will help ensure that schools don’t have to miss out.”
Pictured are Primary 6 and 7 children from Greenlaw Primary School (the first school to benefit from the funding) with Sally Fleming, Doug Bell from Greenvale (left) and Alan Telford from the Hirsel Estate.
Notes for editors:
Greenvale AP is the UK’s leading supplier of fresh potatoes and was awarded the Queens Award for Innovation in 2006. Greenvale AP now supplies the UK’s premier retailers, caterers and processing outlets with quality potatoes, meeting the high standards demanded by the UK market.
Greenvale AP has developed sites in the major potato growing areas across the UK, resulting in three state of the art potato-packing operations situated in Shropshire, Berwickshire and Cambridgeshire. The company also has sales and marketing offices around the UK, including in Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, Hereford and Yorkshire.
Greenvale AP’s Seed Potato operation is managed from a specialist office at Burrelton near Perth in Scotland.
For more information on the company visit www.greenvale.co.uk.