Farmscape for February 9, 2023
| Full Interview 6:28 | Listen  |
A grade-5 student from Marcelin, Saskatchewan is helping share the story of modern swine production with an urban public that has become increasingly detached from the farm and from food production. Last month the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board launched a new Whole Hog Youth Ambassador program geared to toward youth and named 10-year old Reise Podhordeski, a grade 5 student from Marcelin, Saskatchewan, as its whole hog ambassador for the next year. Sask Pork Communications and Marketing Manager Lynn Redl-Huntington says many young consumers don’t know where their food comes from and, because the pork industry is especially challenged to tell its story due to strict biosecurity, the Whole Hog Youth Ambassador be able to help share that story in a fun and youthful way.
Clip-Lynn Redl-Huntington-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
Because Reise is a grade 5 student he really brings a fantastic natural inquisitiveness about the industry and so he’s really just asking the questions that he and people who may not know a whole lot about the hog industry may be curious about. With those biosecurity measures it really does make it difficult to bring the inside of a barn out to the public, just given that it’s so difficult to get inside with all the equipment and all of the rest. We really wanted to give this an opportunity to show kids in particular what it’s really like to be a pig farmer. We really work hard to showcase what we can about the hog industry but recognising that so many of our partners and our producers live in rural communities and so many of the public is in urban communities, it’s challenging to bring that forward. We thought what better way to do that than through short form videos that we can share on our web site, on our YouTube page, on our Twitter page and bring that to the forefront so the people can get a much better understanding of the industry.
Redl-Huntington expects this initiative to allow engagement with an entirely different segment of the population and bring an enthusiasm that hasn’t been highlighted before.
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*Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers
