The specialist agribusiness bank and George the Farmer — a fictional character featured in a series of educational resources — will be awarding 50 primary schools across Australia a George the Farmer book set for their school libraries.
Rabobank client council manager Yvette Loyson said George the Farmer’s down-to-earth manner and grassroots charm resonates “incredibly well” with young readers in rural locations while inspiring city-based children to have a better understanding and connection to farming.
“Rabobank partnered with George the Farmer last year to celebrate National Book Week for the first time, and we were overwhelmed with applications from schools across the country,” she said.
“It was exciting to see that level of interest from children and their teachers and librarians in learning about agriculture.”
The George the Farmer story began in 2012 when founder Simone Kain was trawling the internet looking for farming books and apps for her farm-obsessed son George.
Simone said the toddler was desperate to be out with his dad on the farm and she wanted to find something to entertain and inspire him while he was indoors.
“I quickly discovered there wasn’t a human farming character globally who was telling sequential stories about life on the land for children, let alone a modern Aussie farmer telling real, relatable yarns,” she said.
“In 2014, George the Farmer was officially born, with the story quickly spilling outside storybooks and into new mediums.
“More than 100,000 Aussie kids from the big smoke and the bush have connected to the earth, food and farm through the adventures of George the Farmer, his agronomist wife Dr Ruby and their twin children Lucy and Jack.”
Applications for the book sets are open from Wednesday, August 2, and close on Wednesday, August 16 at: https://rabobankaunz.eventsair.com/2023-au-george-the-farmer-book-set-competition/book-set/Site/Register
