13 years ago, in a period when farm holidays were growing and schools were more and more distant from job market, they had the idea of creating a system of teaching farms; today there are 25 teaching farms in Mantua province.
School teachers agree with trained farmers about what students should see during their visit to the farms; this way students may learn interesting things about nature, seasonal products, about the function of meadows, hedges, ditches... Still, they can try to milk a goat and to feed chickens, or they can discover how plant fibres, cheese, butter, bread and polenta are made.
Food education is a very important subject for teaching farms: students learn about the relationship between food and farming. But they also learn about the importance of biodiversity and wildlife preservation.
Teaching farm is a good educational tool for children.