NRM Education
Supporting environmental sustainability in schools.
Food Miles Activity
Carrots are Carrots, Right!?
Using carrots as the focus and the Riverland as the final
destination for the food, this activity explores and promotes
discussion about:
• Food miles
• Freshness
• Supporting local food producers
• Sustainability/Carbon emissions
• Cost/money for farmers etc
• Alternatives/options/behaviour change
This very physical and visual activity will give students an
understanding of where our food actually comes from, and provoke
thought on how fresh the food actually is.
Using real examples of where carrots are grown and the miles they
travel to get to their final destination (Loxton) students will begin
to think about where food comes from and how they can change
their ways to ensure local businesses are supported, food miles (and
emissions) are reduced and the freshest produce is being consumed.
Materials needed:
• 5 x 1.25L plastic bottles with caps (these will be the carrots!)
• Orange acrylic or watercolour paint OR orange food colouring (carrot juice colour)
• Water to fill bottles (carrot juice)
• Masking tape (to tape up the holes so they don’t leak)
• Carrot Food Miles printables (pdf file) which includes the “Carrot Cards” so participants know
what they need to do, and the “Location” signs.
• You will need enough students/volunteers for how ever many locations and carrots you are
going to demonstrate.
Preparation:
• Drill a small (approx. 2mm) hole in the bottle caps - this is where the ‘carrot juice’ will leak out.
• Put a small pin-prick hole in the bottom of the plastic bottle, this will be a breather to allow the
‘juice’ to flow.
• Place masking tape over the hole in the cap, and the hole in the bottom of the bottle - to ensure
the ‘juice’ doesn’t leak. Fill the bottles with water, add some of the orange colouring to make it a
nice orange carrot juice colour. Cap the bottles.
Introduction: today we will be talking about where our food comes from. We will explore food
miles, food freshness, supporting local farmers/growers and sustainability.
Ask some of the students to give examples of where their food comes from.
Ask if everyone eats, or generally has carrots in the fridge at home. Where do they come from?
NRM Education
Supporting environmental sustainability in schools.
We are going to use carrots as our example today and you will take
part in a very visual demonstration. We will explore where our carrots
come from - where are they grown, how do they end up in my fridge,
how fresh are they!?
Ask for volunteers to be our ‘locations. Hand out the town/location signs
and get the students to stand at various distances away from the final
destination - relative to their town/location. They need to hold their signs
up so we can see where they are.
Ask for more students to be “The Carrots”, hand out their carrot cards
which tells them what they need to do when the activity starts. Carrot #1
and #2 require two students. Get the students to read their cards carefully
so they know what they need to do.
Bring out the “Carrots” and hand them to the students, they should
remove the tape and put their finger over the hole in the cap (bottles to
be held upside down, cap pointing down). When the activity starts, they
must take their finger off the hole and let the ‘juice’ drain out as they
travel to their destination. Get them to move to their starting points.
Students with “Carrots” your aim is to make it to your final
destination - following the directions on your card. The juice in your
carrot represents the overall “FRESHNESS” of your carrots. You should
aim to keep some of the freshness in your carrot by the time you get
to the end.
Our final destination is my house in Loxton. You all come from somewhere different, and will
travel different distances to get to me. Try not to RUN, just walk between your locations, this is a
visual demonstration.
When I say GO - take your finger off the hole and travel to your destination! Once your carrot
reaches it’s final destination (my house in Loxton) put your finger back over the hole)
Tell them to GO and watch them all make their way to their final destination. Once they reach the end
and have their finger on the hole again - review the amount of ‘juice’ left in each carrot.
Things to discuss:
• Get each student to talk about (or read out) where their carrot was grown and where it had to travel.
Get them to read out the total distance the carrot had to travel.
• Look at the amount of ‘juice’ remaining in each carrot. Talk about how this is representative of the
‘freshness’ of the carrot. Doesn’t it make sense to buy carrots that are grown locally and are ‘more
fresh’?
• Discuss examples - like the one grown in Renmark, sent to Adelaide and then back to Berri.
• Talk about Carbon emissions. Relate it back to previous activities they may have done which includes
how much carbon is emitted by petrol vehicles.
• Discuss other products in supermarkets which come from elsewhere - eg. Grapes and oranges from
California, Kiwi Fruit from New Zealand. Sometimes, if fruit is out of season (like grapes are at the
moment) supermarkets will buy fruit from overseas to meet the demand.
• Discuss what we can do to make a difference. Can we influence what carrots are bought at home?
Can we just influence the fact that it’s important to LOOK and see where our food comes from. If we
support local and Australian farmers and growers, we secure the future of our food. Maybe we could
just use fruit and vegetables that are in season - meaning they would come from local growers and
not from overseas.