Edmonton (Rural Roots Canada) – Building up agriculture literacy amongst urban consumers is crucial in continuing to build and maintain a sustainable canola industry. 

According to recent surveys done by Alberta Canola, many Canadians are unaware of the heart-healthy canola oil and how good it is for their consumption. As a result, many people often turn to vegetable oils such as coconut, palm and soybean.

The goal of Alberta Canola is to provide more education across all of Canada to those who may not have grown up around canola like many people in western Canada. 

Alberta Canola’s Roger Cheveraux says this is becoming more and more important.

“Most of the people who are now consumers of our food are not related to the farm at all, 98 % of the population has no connection to the food. There’s an awful lot of social media out there with an awful lot of falsehoods and incorrect information,” says Cheveraux.

READ MORE: Farmer Reflects on First Year as a Director with the Alberta Canola Board

Alberta Canola is one of many organizations working to inform the public about how their food is produced.

Chevraux says one of the ways they do this is to support Agriculture for Life and their efforts to reach as many students as possible, particularly in urban centres.

“Because the rural audience, most of them got some connection to the farm, but people living in urban centres do not. And we’re also trying to reach out, and if you take a look at the broader section of consumers, we have an awful lot of people that aren’t familiar with canola oil,” says Cheveraux.

For more on Alberta Canola’s efforts to raise public awareness about agriculture and canola oil, click here.