Farmscape for September 19, 2011   (Episode 3666)

Manitoba's pork producers are confident a newly opened farm and food discovery centre will play a key role in educating consumers about what it takes to put food on their tables.

The University of Manitoba's Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre, located at the Glenlea Research Station, home to the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment, officially opened Friday.

The 8,300-square-foot facility, which contains a series of interactive exhibits designed to tell the story of the science involved in taking food from the farm to the consumer's plate, features a biosecure viewing area where visitors can see directly into the university's swine research facility.

Karl Kynoch, the chair of Manitoba Pork Council, one of several organizations that provided financial support for construction of the new centre, says the way this facility is laid out, to display the complete lifesycle of food, how food is produced and how the livestock is raised is positive.

Clip-Karl Kynoch-Manitoba Pork Council:
We've gotten to the point in food production where there is a lot of people out there, believe it or not, that think that their food comes from the Superstore or their food comes from Safeway and they don't realize the process that is involved to actually get that food there.

What this food discovery centre is going to do, and we hope will help educate them, is how it starts, how we utilize our nutrients to grow the grains, how in turn we develop the grains and then turn them into feed to feed to our animals and turn that into meat products and that.

What we're hoping to do is really help educate the public on the cycle of food, that it doesn't just come from a grocery store but there's a lot of work behind the scenes and a lot of work ahead of that before it gets to that store that goes into it.

Kynoch notes industry push-back on new government regulations is making people realize there is more going on the farms than they understand.

He says the public is starting to get more interested in how their food is raised and making sure their food is safe and there is also concern over animal welfare and this new centre opens up an accessible vision of how the product is actually raised in the barns.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council