By Alice McFarlane

Students learn about where their food comes from at the Burger and Fries Farm

Sep 25, 2025 | 4:01 PM

Grade four students from Melfort and Kinistino got an education on where the ingredients come from to make a favourite meal of burger and fries.

As more students are further removed from the farm, they don’t realize where their food comes. The Burger and Fries Farm shows them, from start to finish, what it takes to get the food to the plate, according to veterinarian Dr. Victor Kernaleguen with Gateway Veterinary Services in Melfort.

Gateway has been hosting the event for a number of years.

Kernaleguen said the students are divided into groups and visit eight stations where they learn about the production of wheat and canola; how to raise and care for beef, chickens, sheep, and horses; grow a garden and learn about the 4-H program.

“I think it’s just a great way to expose kids to agriculture and to where their food comes from. That’s what a big part of what we do at Gateway is – trying to engage these kids and make them realize how agriculture affects their lives,” he said.

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Kernaleguen said there’s a disconnect between the farm and urban centres. However, he said there are also cases where a child grows up on a grain farm but hasn’t seen chickens or cows.

“It’s not old McDonald’s farm anymore. Usually, a farmer will be on the grain side or on the beef side where they are specializing in one thing or another,” he said.

Grade 4 students learn about chicken production and get to hold one day old chicks at the Burger and Fries Farm in Melfort. (Alice McFarlanefarmnewsNOW)

Kernaleguen said while the students enjoy being able to hold day-old chicks at the chicken station, they are amazed at the garden. In June, when the same students were in Grade 3, they planted a garden on site and were now able to see what grew.

“People get so used to just going to the store and buying their food and don’t realize that they actually can grow it at home, or their parents just don’t have a garden, right? So, it just opens these kids’ eyes to the fact that they can actually grow some of these things at home. They just need a little space.”

Kernaleguen credits a core group of volunteers that work hard to make the event a success year after year.

Burger and Fries Farm volunteer Lisa Shmyr explains how the bran is removed from wheat to make white flour. (Alice McFarlane/farmnewsNOW)

Lisa Shmyr with Exceed Grain Marketing has been volunteering at Burger and Fries Farm for eight years.

She explained how wheat is seeded and grown – all the way to harvest. Students were able to rub heads of wheat in their hands and thrash out the seeds while the wind blew away the chaff.

Shmyr said they also learn how wheat is milled into flour.

“Creating flour for the kids to see how that works and then talking about the products we make with flour is a highlight,” she said. “It’s absolutely amazing to watch the looks on their faces and, holy moly, that’s what happens here.”

Shmyr said events like this are important. Many kids live in rural Saskatchewan, but they’re still removed from the farm and what goes on there.

“So, students can understand what agriculture is, what we all do here, how we do it, and for them to recognize things in the field. There’s an elevator, now they know what that is, and that’s wheat in a field, or that’s a horse, or this is what you use chickens for, and just the very basics that we kind of take for granted being from a farm that many kids don’t understand,” she said. “Even the adults are learning a lot from this, too.”

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com