Bringing Farmers and Producers into the Schools: Insights From a Successful Slow Food Education Program in Noosa

The Slow Food Snail Kids program in Noosa started in 2020 as a cooperation between Di Seels and Slow Food Noosa, Australia’s largest Slow Food convivium. 

Di Seels, who has a background in medical science, felt the urge to teach children after retiring from her previous profession and was particularly drawn to outdoor education pedagogy. 

“I grew up on a farm and want to pass on the knowledge I have to children,” says Seels, who started a collaboration with the Sunshine Beach State Primary School as an outdoor educator. Slow Food Noosa approached Seels about a possible collaboration, mentored by Slow Food Noosa Vice-President Rod Lees, which led to the development of the community-based education program Slow Food Snail Kids.

Farmer and producer visits at the core

The Slow Food Snail Kids activities are organized six months to a year in advance. Five schools in Noosa have introduced the program into the curriculum, with around 3,000 kids aged five to twelve years old connecting and learning from a farmer or producer to date. 

Seels says the educational program is straightforward and requires minimal effort from the school or the teachers, and the farmers’ visits are always in alignment with and connected to the curriculum. The program offers practical introductions to themes usually studied more theoretically, such as the connection between plants, animals, and humans. 

The role of Slow Food Noosa, Slow Food Snail Kids program and program coordinator Di Seels is to coordinate and connect farmers to the schools and the curriculums.

“Connection with local food producers and local food production is the most important, ” explains Seels, who collaborates with cheese and fermented food producers, mushroom growers, and cattle farmers, among other producers and farmers. 

The farmers and producers introduced to the students via the Slow Food Snail Kids program put theory into practice by, for example, planting microgreens with students, making sauerkraut, growing mushrooms, or conducting tastings of artisanal cheese.  

Slow Food Noosa has since 2017 run the program Snail of Approval, a recognition scheme for which farmers, producers, chefs, and food artisans in the region can apply and, if granted, benefit. Participants in the scheme, so-called Snails, are also the farmers and producers who share their expertise with the kids in the educational program. Scott Andrews, a mushroom producer and a Slow Food Noosa Snail, was the first to get his work written into the curriculum.

Effortless model is the key to success – Teachers and farmers enjoy participating

Di Seels emphasizes that a key to the project’s success has been keeping it simple, ensuring it does not add extra work to the teacher’s already significant workload. The program does not include any additional material – the focus is entirely on connecting the farmers and the producers with the kids and learning from their hands-on experiences.

“The teachers like it, as there is no extra work for them, and the cost for the school is minimal,” explains Seels, comparing the program to farm visits, an activity appreciated and valuable for kids but also demanding more organizing and paperwork from the teachers.

Engaging producers to participate in the program has not been hard at all, says Seels:

“It is easy to get producers to join; they come to me and want to do it,” says Seels about the program’s success. She continues explaining how the farmers and producers enjoy the kids’ plentiful questions. 

“A story about how the cow’s poo makes the soil better, and bringing a piece of a poo to show the students, makes the kids understand how everything is connected,” smiles Seels.  

Children influencing parents

Seels has seen how the program has a ripple effect on the students’ families and the whole community, mentioning, for example, how parents have told Seels that the kids are now asking for kombucha instead of soda after participating in fermentation presentations by Slow Food Snail and kombucha producer Tania Wiesmayr-Freeman. 

“The program connects kids and their families with local production,” says Seels, who also has observed that the producers participating in the program get a lot of recognition in the community. It has even led to more farm visits and increased sales of the products. 

Di Seels will conduct in-depth research on the program’s impacts in the coming year as part of a Master of Science degree. The study evaluates the positive effects on food literacy and choices among participating students, how the Slow Food values of good, clean, and fair food are introduced in schools, and how the program can be further developed. The results will be published in Seel’s master’s thesis in 2025.

Slow Food Snail Kids beyond Noosa

The program has been running successfully for four years, and now Seels and Slow Food Noosa are working on sharing their experiences to other states of Australia.

Slow Food Noosa is also keen to share the program beyond Australia.  During Terra Madre in Turin in Italy in September, Slow Food Noosa ventured out to an Italian school to present Slow Food Snail Kids and experienced a great interest in the farmer visit component of the program. 

“This project connects with the Slow Food ideology of going back to basics, connecting with farmers, and eating locally,” says Seels. 

Di Seels says she would love to see their program and methods adopted internationally. 

“The best way to start is with one school and one principal who is open to the program. Show them how it works, and help them implement the program,” says Seels, who is happy to connect with others working with food education within Slow Food convivia and communities.