Wednesday marked the first day of Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month (CALM), which was previously only one week.

Agriculture in the Classroom Canada will deliver programming to over 30,000 students in over 800 classrooms across Canada in March. The theme this year is "Our food. Our Story."

Canadian Agriculture Literacy Month is a hands-on program that encourages children to learn about and celebrate agriculture in various ways, including reading books about farming, watching videos and meeting with farmers and others in the agriculture industry.

“Due to increasing demand by schools to participate, AITC-Canada is thrilled to expand this important event from a week to a month. This gives us to the opportunity to spend further time celebrating and sharing the Canadian agriculture story to more students, in more schools across Canada ” said Johanne Ross, AITC-Canada Executive Director. “In Canada, many families are two or three generations away from the farm. CALM provides an opportunity to help young Canadians understand the importance and value of agriculture to their lives and their communities. For the sixth year, this initiative will engage and connect producers and industry members to teachers and students across the country which is imperative for the future of agriculture.”

Building an awareness for students on the connection they have to local farmers and agriculture industry representatives is a key focus of the initiative.

The change from a week of ag literacy to a month was made possible through funding from Farm Credit Canada (FCC).