Glenlea Farm Education Centre

view the April 2009 GFEC update pdf

The Glenlea Farm Education Centre (GFEC) will be an interactive showplace with dioramas and hands-on displays of grain and feed production, viewing galleries for the hog barn with videos relaying scenes from the demonstration barn, food retailing and food safety displays. Flexible space will be used for public presentations and meetings.

Through this interactive approach, visitors will learn about every aspect of livestock production from farming practices to retail sales. The Glenlea Farm Education Centre will also highlight ongoing research at the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment.

Although the Farm Education Centre's main audience will be middle-years students, we'll encourage visits from all ages of students, municipal and provincial elected representatives, farmers, university students, area residents, service and interest groups and the general public. We expect at least 30 thousand visitors annually.

A group of researchers has come up with the plan for creating interactive displays to provide hands-on opportunities for visitors to experience and understand food production in Canada. There will be

• a tractor experience where visitors can climb in, check out the GPS and drive the virtual fields
• a livestock/grain farm site complete with feed bins, hay bales, weather equipment, a satellite dish, real and virtual crops and soil profiles
• a swine production section where visitors can get as close as the other side of the glass to live pigs from conception through finishing
• a transport truck showing safety and welfare features to keep pigs secure
• a supermarket where shoppers can scan food models to meet the producers, processors and marketers who stand behind the products
• a hands-on food preparation area focusing on food safety from field to plate