Introduction
Our Innovation Voucher programme has recently awarded Golden Hooves (a part of First Milk) just under £10,000 to start to develop a plan to bring children and families closer to the world of dairy and regenerative farming and start to teach them in innovative ways about biodiversity, soil and what a day is like on a working farm.
The project
First Milk is a British farmer-owned dairy co-operative and proud to demonstrate how dairy can be a force for good. Breaking down the stereotypes of factory farming and not caring about our animals and the land they live on. First Milk are focusing on being regenerative, and take a holistic approach, encouraging grazing and animal welfare. By future-proofing soil, farms, creameries and communities, is a shared commitment throughout their whole business and extends to everyone that they work with.
This project, ‘Learning about regenerative farming through novel technologies’ aims to develop a learning experience for children and families. This will focus on regenerative farming whilst making it fun and exciting, and done in a technological and digital way. In addition, they will highlight all the good we do encouraging a more regenerative approach.
The aim is to develop a range of learning experiences which could be delivered in a classroom, at home or on a farm. Working with STEM leaders, schoolteachers and technology companies they wanted to explore how to make this learning experience as interactive and memorable as possible.
First Milk worked with our Innovation Broker team to firstly apply for an Innovation Voucher to kick start the project which the University of Strathclyde led on. The opportunity to also work with Digital Dairy Chain partner, SmartSTEMs, and technology company, Vertical Vertical, was also made possible through the research and development phase. Vertical Vertical has ensured the sustainability and continuity of the project by accessing new technologies for First Milk such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) and created a strong collaboration for any ongoing work.
Collaborators: Digital Dairy Chain Innovation Brokerage, Golden Hooves (A part of First Milk), SmartSTEMs and Vertical Vertical.
How has Digital Dairy Chain helped?
First Milk being able to access the Innovation Voucher was the first step in them funding the academic and research side of this project, this in turn provided them with the expertise to develop suitable lesson plans and content to move forward with.
“The team at Digital Dairy Chain were highly professional, personable, experienced and very supportive throughout. Without this we would not have known who to contact or how to get this project up and running as efficiently”
Digital Dairy Chain partner, SmartSTEMs, supported on the educational aspects and provided understanding of what children were currently learning about around the topics and helped with lesson planning.
What impact will the project have?
This project is aiming to bring children and young people closer to the farming world in a variety of settings. This will be done across a range of topics about the importance of regenerative farming, including the land, the people and the animals.
This project will support First Milk’s aim of bringing more children on to farm over the coming years as well as developing an understanding of First Milk’s brand and the values which they stand for and operate under.
Children are increasingly unaware of how their food and drinks get from farm to fork, and through engaging them in innovative ways it is hoped to broaden the knowledge of some potential future farmers and beyond.
First Milk hope that by engaging with children at a young age will encourage them to consider careers in farming and dairy and give them a broader understanding of the world they live in and the industry.
This project marks a significant step towards a more informed and sustainable, open and inclusive future.
This project marks a significant step towards a more informed and sustainable future.
