Connecting students to agriculture, one class at a time
When Abe Buttimer of Abelaine Farms Inc. in New Glasgow was growing up, nearly everyone he knew had a connection to a farm.
Today, that connection isn't as common. Many children have never set foot on a farm or had the chance to see firsthand where their food comes from.
That reality sparked Buttimer's goal of giving every Grade 3 class in PEI the opportunity to experience agriculture firsthand.
As the chair of the PEI Dairy Youth Trust, a local group that supports agricultural education for young people, Buttimer set his plan in motion with help from Agriculture in the Classroom PEI (AITC).
AITC is a non-profit organization that provides curriculum-linked agriculture and food education to students across the province. It started the Grade 3 Open Farm Day Tour in 2015, bringing hundreds of students to Island farms every September.
The first tours in 2015 gave 164 kids the chance to visit four Island farms. Now, in September 2026, more than 1,400 students, representing almost every Grade 3 class in PEI, have visited 34 farms across the Island.
"That was my goal from the start,” said Buttimer “It was a lofty goal in 2015, but it's very possible now.”
The tours give young students a hands-on opportunity to learn about local agriculture, which compliments what they are already learning in subjects like science and social studies.
And for students, the lessons can be as simple as learning where the food on their breakfast table comes from.
When they visit farms like Buttimer's in New Glasgow, students can touch a newborn calf, see where milk comes from, and discover how grains grown in a field can end up in their cereal bowl.
With fewer families having a direct connection to farming than in generations past, helping young people make those connections is important, says Laurie Loane, executive director of Agriculture in the Classroom PEI.
"I think it's important that our students know where our food is produced, our farmers that are producing it, and that Canada has some of the healthiest, most safety regulated food in the world."
With only one school unable to participate this year, Loane said the reach of this year's tours marks an important milestone for the program.
"Our students absolutely love having the chance to come out and see live animals, see where their milk comes from, be able to go dig potatoes or go see a beef farm... it's just an amazing opportunity for them. And I think the teachers get as much out of the day as the students do."
The farmers opening their doors to students across PEI get something out of the experience, too. For Buttimer, the Grade 3 farm tour day is his favourite day of the year.
"My biggest wish is that they come and experience an actual farm, they see that we're looking after the animals really well, they see that it's not something that you do behind closed doors, it's right here, and it's accessible."
After more than a decade of welcoming students to his farm, Buttimer still loves their enthusiasm.
"They get excited about the littlest things," Buttimer said. "And that excitement drives me."
Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) works with the Department of Education and Early Years to make sure its programs and resources are curriculum-linked.
AITC is funded in part by the provincial government through the Department of Agriculture.