Pupils from Chilton Community Primary School in Stowmarket get involved in Plant Your Pants soil campaign by Country Trust

Children have enjoyed a visit to a farm where they took part in the launch of a campaign to get people learning more about the soil.

Pupils from Chilton Community Primary School, in Stowmarket, went to Shimpling Park Farm, south of Bury St Edmunds, on March 20 on a trip organised by the Country Trust charity, which takes disadvantaged schoolchildren on farm visits to learn at first hand how food is grown.

It was launch day of the trust’s national soil health campaign, Plant Your Pants, a fun way for all of us to make better connections with the ground we rely on.

It involves burying a pair of cotton pants in the soil and digging them up eight weeks later to see what the soil has done to them. The more they have broken down, the healthier the soil.

On the visit, the Chilton Primary children​​​​​​ took part in soil-based activities and planted some pants in the ground as part of the Plant Your Pants experiment.

Teacher Liz Bird, who was on the visit, said: “The visit to Shimpling Park Farm is always so much fun, educational and well organised. We took a group of Year 3 children and they took part in the Plant Your Pants activity to demonstrate whether the soil is healthy and to encourage the children to check their soil at home.

“The children loved their day out and learnt so much. These children have limited experiences and most have never been to a farm before.”

This comes as the Country Trust publishes results of a survey, with around 40 per cent of children saying they either don’t know or don’t believe soil is important for the production of the food they eat.

Of the campaign, Jill Attenborough, CEO of the Country Trust, said: “Using all our senses we will tune in to the wonder of the unseen micro-organisms beneath our feet and discover how good food, grown well in health soils directly impacts our health and the health of the planet itself.

“We support our network of schools to take part each year but this year we want to extend the invitation to everyone.”

Register online at www.countrytrust.org.uk/plantyourpants