Shaun Leavey, chair of the South East Sustainable Farming and Food Board, will tell Sir Don that, as part of the Sustainable Farming and Food Strategy - launched countrywide in 2002 - hundreds of projects and schemes benefiting rural businesses are now underway in the South East.
Shaun Leavey said:
"This is an opportunity to flag up our successes and to report on any difficulties with the Strategy to Sir Don and his team. We also want to use the occasion to get more people, including the County Councils and Unitary Authorities, involved."
Speakers from across the South East will outline what is happening in their sector and will look at issues including bio-fuels, raising awareness of health benefits of milk to children, the benefits of the countryside to the public and businesses, and training and advice providers to rural businesses.
In Hampshire, Hampshire Country Learning (HCL) promotes countryside education activities in the county and believes that all children and young people should have the opportunity to explore and enjoy the countryside, understand its importance and realise that they have a role in caring for its future. Organisations involved include the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) the Sustainable Farming and Food Board, the Government Office for the South East, and the Countryside Foundation for Education (CFE).
HCL employed a part-time Countryside Education Co-ordinator who helped teachers and supported school visits. The co-ordinator also helped farmers and landowners make links with schools, carry out health and safety checks and develop curriculum links from their enterprises. Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs funding helped to support seven Estate Days for schools, enabling over 1300 Hampshire school children, ages four to seven and seven to eleven, to enjoy and learn about the countryside with activities focusing on woodland crafts, pursuits and management, crops, animals, dairy production and bee keeping.
Fiona Beaumont, of the Government Office for the South East, said:
"At ten Countryside Days in Hampshire, children were taught about food and farming through activities such as grinding wheat into flour and matching products to the right crops as well as getting closer to animals. One of the main outcomes is that, through the Countryside Days, contact with 80 schools across the county has been made. HCL is currently developing links between Applied Science GCSE teachers and farmers in several Hampshire secondary schools. HCL is working with Hampshire Fare on promoting healthy eating of locally produced foods and starting visits for disadvantaged children."
