Urgent action is needed to educate young people about food and farming, if a new study is to be believed.

Food certification body Linking Environment & Farming issued the warning after a survey found less than half of 16 to 23-year-olds know where butter comes from.

LEAF showed a range of pictures of crops and animals – including one of a dairy cow – to 2,000 young adults and asked them to identify which produced butter. A quarter said they could not even guess, while 8% believed butter came from beef cattle and 7% from wheat.

The youngsters fared little better with other foods. A third were unable to identify that eggs come from hens, with 10% thinking they come from wheat or maize, while 12% believed steak comes from wheat or maize and more than a third failed to associate bacon with pigs.

One in 10 young people thought crops such as potatoes, wheat and oats took less than a month to grow, and 80% had no idea of farmers’ environmental responsibilities, such as maintaining hedgerows.

LEAF boss Caroline Drummond said young adults were becoming increasingly removed from where their food comes from.

“We often hear reports that our food knowledge may be declining but this new research shows how bad the situation is,” she said. “Three in 10 adults born in the 1990s haven’t visited a farm in more than 10 years, if at all, which is a real shame as our farmers not only play an important role in food production but are passionate about engaging and reconnecting consumers too.”

LEAF is holding its seventh Open Farm Sunday this Sunday (17 June), which encourages the general public to engage with farmers and food production.

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