Where does milk come from?

New national research commissioned by Norco Co-operative has revealed striking gaps in what children understand about where some of Australia’s most familiar foods actually begin, with some tracing them no further than Macca’s, the supermarket or even the Mr Whippy van.

While some answers might raise a smile, collectively they point to something more concerning: almost four in 10 (38 per cent) children don’t recognise that without farmers, we wouldn’t have enough food.

How did the farm disappear from the food story?

Norco spokesperson Sophie Hansen, food writer, author and 2016 Australian Rural Woman of the Year, said the findings highlighted how easily the people and places behind our food could disappear from view once it reaches our plates.

“For most kids, bread comes sliced in a bag, hot chips arrive in a carton and ice-cream comes in a tub.

When that’s how we experience food every day, it’s perhaps not surprising that the wheat field, potato crop or dairy farm behind it can feel a world away,” Ms Hansen said.

“Living on a farm, I see first-hand how much work, knowledge and care goes into producing our food.

“Kids are naturally curious, so showing them that the bread in their lunchbox started with wheat grown by a farmer, or their scoop of ice-cream with milk from a dairy farm, is a simple way to help them understand where their food really comes from — and why it matters.”

Parents value the connection — but are we passing it on?

Parents themselves acknowledge they have a role to play.

Almost seven in 10 (69 per cent) Aussie parents say it’s very or extremely important that their children understand where food comes from, including the role of farmers, while almost half (49 per cent) say parents bear the greatest responsibility for improving food literacy.

But intention isn’t always translating into conversation, with close to a quarter (22 per cent) of parents rarely or never talking about where their food comes from with their families.

“When one in five young children believes we’d still get our food from supermarkets or factories if there were no farmers, that’s a pretty stark sign that we’re not always making the connection between the food on our shelves and the people who produce it,” Norco Chief executive officer Michael Hampson said.