Ag for Life's Learning Labs offer a variety of online educational tools that are available to learners of all ages. Click open the topics below to discover a library of valuable resources, activities and more.
Careers
What is your future? Do you dream of owning your own business? Maybe you are the creative type, eager to make your mark with graphic design? Or perhaps you get excited by the idea of a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math)? Would you be surprised to learn that all of those (and more!) are career options within the agri-food sector? Careers in agriculture and food are incredibly diverse… and they aren’t all on the farm.
Food Waste
One third of all food produced globally is wasted. The truth is that Canadians are throwing out more food than they realize – food that could, at one point, have been eaten. And the waste comes with environmental impacts. Each year, food waste in Canada creates some 56.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions. Food in landfills also creates methane gas, which is 25 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide.
Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals are the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They address the global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice. The 17 Goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them all by 2030.
STEM
STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teach the four disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEM integrates them into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications. Students pursuing degrees in STEM are carving new tools to find solutions to feeding the drastically rising demand for food.
Technology & Innovation
Innovation is more important in modern agriculture than ever before. The industry as a whole is facing huge challenges, from rising costs of supplies, a shortage of labor, and changes in consumer preferences for transparency and sustainability. There is increasing recognition from agriculture corporations that solutions are needed for these challenges. Major technology innovations have focused around areas such as indoor vertical farming, automation and robotics, livestock technology, modern greenhouse practices, precision agriculture and artificial intelligence, biotechnology and blockchain.
Environment
The environmental impact of agriculture varies based on the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. Some of the environmental issues that are related to agriculture are climate change, deforestation, dead zones, genetic engineering, water, pollutants, soil degradation, and waste. Developing a global food system that both achieves food security and reduces agriculture’s environmental impact is one of the foremost challenges of our time.
