On the heels of February's I Love to Read Month, it's Canadian Agriculture Literacy Week, meaning local farmers are bringing books to Manitoba schools to share stories and information about agriculture.

"Increasingly, more and more students are two or three generations removed from the farm in Canada and so they don't really understand where their food comes from," says Agriculture in the Classroom Manitoba (AITC-M) associate executive director Sue Clayton. "They think it comes from the grocery store — and for sure that's where they go and buy it, but that's not where the food is produced. So Canadian Agriculture Literacy Week — which is generously sponsored by Farm Credit Canada — makes sure that we reach as many classrooms as possible and talk to as many kids as possible about where their food comes from."

Clayton, along with Altona-area farmer Kyle Friesen and the Manitoba Pulse and Soybean Growers Bean Team, was at Parkland Elementary School in Winkler fielding the field-related questions from students Monday morning.

"I really hope they understand what it takes to grow a crop to feed and world, and maybe they have a better understanding of why we do the things we do," says Friesen after the morning's activities were packed up and the students bundled up in snowsuits to head out for recess. "Kids have a lot of interest in farming, they just need to get exposed to it so they can really develop an interest, and they need to understand there's a big future in agriculture."

Throughout the week, more Manitoba farmers will be visiting classrooms as part of Ag Literacy Week, with Boissevain, Dauphin, and Reston schools on the list. This year, AITC-M will also bring a live stream event from Ontario to high school classrooms in Manitoba to bring more ag awareness for the older students.

In total this year, over 20,000 students in over 500 classrooms across Canada will take part in Ag Literacy Week.