A large swath of students from across southwestern Saskatchewan gained some valuable agriculture and safety knowledge last week.

Seven hundred and thirty-nine students accompanied by 65 teachers visited Kinetic Park last Thursday and Friday to take in the 11th annual Discover the Farm presented by the Swift Current Ag & Ex.

Megan Muri, the events coordinator for the Swift Current Ag & Ex, said they had 11 different agriculture and safety stations set up for the two-day event.

"It's very important for these kids to learn where their food comes from because a lot of them don't have an aunt, uncle, grandma, or grandpa that live on a farm so they have no connection to that world," she said. 

A wide range of topics was covered for the over 800 attendees including large animal safety, seed survivor by Ag in the classroom, Beekeeping, Sask Pork, sheep and goat farming, impairment safety, fire safety, ATV safety, water safety, and PTO Safety.

"It's crazy how quiet the Stockade can be with that many kids in there learning," she said. "A lot of the stations are hands-on too so they learn for a bit then jump up and get engaged with the station."

The best part of the day for the children and organizers was introducing them to livestock such as sheep, goats, a baby chicken, and a cow-calf pair. 

"Some of these kids have never seen them in person before," she said. "It's something [the livestock] they don't often get to be that close to or to pet or to fed [them]."

Schools that attended the event were All Saints Catholic, Central, Ecole Centennial, Fairview, Irwin, Hazlet, Shaunavon, Stewart Valley, Success, Val Marie, Vanguard, Wymark, Downie Lake Colony, and 1 home-schooled student.