Matilda wants more. She sniffs his hand. She snuffles around his shoes. She circles round behind him to check if there’s anything there, snout on the ground, hooves clacking on the stones. She knows there are pieces of apple round here somewhere and it’s of no importance to Matilda the pig that the man who might have them happens to be the heir to the throne.

Prince Charles is here visiting Matilda and the other pigs in the enclosure as part of an event to promote a new initiative on his Dumfries House estate in Ayrshire. We know the prince is deeply interested in environmental issues. Only this week, he said he understood why campaigners like Extinction Rebellion have been staging protests. He also warned of a catastrophic impact if more ambitious action isn’t taken on climate change.

The new project he’s promoting at Dumfries House is part of his plan to do something, to contribute, and the focus is food. We know the food we eat accounts for about 25 per cent of our greenhouse gas footprint and the big problem is the stuff we chuck away. Some 3.9 billion tonnes of food is produced every year and one-third of that is wasted. Sort that problem and we could reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by up to 10%. It would be quite an achievement – if a way to do it could be found.

Charles believes the right way to start is with children, which is essentially what the new Dumfries House pilot is all about. It’s called Food For The Future and the pilot has just started running with four schools: Ardrossan Academy, St Thomas Aquinas in Glasgow, The Robert Burns Academy in Cumnock, and the Wallace Hall Academy in Thornhill in Dumfries and Galloway. Some of the kids are here, getting up close to the animals but overcoming some of their reticence. They are particularly amused by the pig’s casual approach to defecation.

Helping them through the process is Jimmy Doherty, the farmer and TV presenter, who is teaching the kids about food waste but is also learning something himself (including the fact that the Scottish word for what the pig is doing is “jobby”).

Oliver’s twist

The plan is that the course and the lessons which Doherty and his chum Jamie Oliver have created with The Prince’s Foundation will run through the school year, giving the pupils the chance to learn from experts in cooking and farming, including Doherty and Oliver. They will also get the chance to improve their skills in the kitchen and, crucially, they will be taught how to minimise food waste.

The longer-term hope for Doherty and the others involved is that the project will be extended into schools around the country. Jamie Oliver has developed recipes, tips and hacks to show the kids taking part how to make their food go further, but the bigger question is what governments are going to do.

There was general dismay a few years ago when the Scottish Government seemed to back off from a commitment to introduce a bill that would set out measures to tackle food production and waste but in the last few days it has confirmed that it will now happen. It will be called the Good Food Nation Bill.

Standing against the fence around the pig pen, Doherty (dressed, somewhat improbably, in pristine white trousers) talks a bit more about what he would like to see as part of those plans. But first he outlines the sheer scale of the problem we need to fix.

“Look at the fundamentals,” he says. “Food waste is more polluting than plastic. It’s ridiculous – 30% of all the food grown is wasted. Think about it: that’s 30% of the land, the resources, the machines, the fertiliser, and whatever else.

“Over the last two generations we’ve devalued food – it’s got cheaper and cheaper, there have been price wars between the supermarkets, and ‘buy one get one free’. So that needs to stop and we need to value food.”

The current model isn’t working, he adds. Some of the supermarkets are trying to do something, but the end result is still tonnes of wasted food.

“So, the issue,” Doherty says, “is how do we reduce this waste, and one way to do it is to equip the younger generations with the right tools because they are the frontline.

“The last generation has created the problem for our children and the children are the ones who need to help us make these changes.”

Doherty says it can start by getting children and young people interested in the basics. “Let’s start at the beginning and understand our food system,” he says. “Such as how important soil is. It’s not just something that holds plants up, it’s a whole eco-system. There’s more life in one teaspoon of soil in terms of bacteria than human life on the planet.”

But how do you get kids interested in that kind of thing? “It’s a challenge,” he admits. “Hey kids! Soil science or play Fortnite? But I think you can, with modern technology and giving young people the information. They’re smart.”

Generational change

One strong sign of hope, says Doherty, is the fact that many young people, inspired by the likes of Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough, are actively engaged with environmental issues and climate change, but his point is that you don’t need to go on a march to make a difference.

“They see global warming and deforestation and often people see themselves as powerless unless they go on a march,” he says. “Not everyone can, but there is something they can do. By simply reducing food waste, you can make a positive change.”

What the new course will focus on is subjects like how farming systems actually work, and today Doherty spends some time with Matilda and a group of kids explaining how the pig fits into the food industry (hopefully, Matilda can’t understand what he’s saying). The course will also teach the basics on reducing waste which hopefully the pupils can apply in their own lives, and one day pass on to their own kids.

“It’s everything from don’t buy too much,” says Doherty, “Don’t waste the stuff on your plate – and know how to use the stuff you have left in the fridge. My mother-in-law used to call it ‘bitsa’. You’d ask what was for dinner and she’d say bitsa this and bitsa that. It’s about using what’s leftover.

“Our grandparents had it and going through recession and the hard times, I thought we’d go back to a bit more of that but we do need to be a bit more frugal.”

If Doherty had his way, he would put all of this on the school curriculum and make it part of everyday learning in every subject – and it’s an idea we’ve heard from other campaigners on food, such as Gary Maclean, winner of MasterChef: The Professionals in 2016 and senior chef/lecturer at City of Glasgow College. His take is that learning to cook is as important as learning to write. “Cooking is a skill you need regardless of what you do with your life and it should be compulsory in schools,” he said. “PE is compulsory and what you eat is just as important as what you do.”

Digest knowledge

Doherty absolutely agrees with this. “Food should be on the curriculum,” he says. “You can go online where there’s loads of information but it’s scattergun and all over the place – we should formalise it and make it part of the curriculum. I’ve been talking to BBC Bitesize about making it part of what they put to schools. You can tie it into the rest of the curriculum – physics, chemistry, whatever – and re-engage everyone with the food we eat. If we put it in a fun way, it puts down the foundation stone of change for the future.”

Doherty does not doubt the scale of the task – it involves turning around trends and habits which have become deeply ingrained – but it’s hard to feel cynical about the ideas behind the Dumfries House pilot. Jacqueline Farrell, education director for The Prince’s Foundation on the estate, says it’s about starting an effect that will spread. “We will challenge the children to come up with their own sustainable solutions to tackling food waste,” she says, “before providing them with the support needed to become food champions at home, at school and in their communities.”

As for the Scottish Government’s role, the focus now is on the promised Good Food Nation Bill, the plans for which have just been published. The aim, say ministers, is that the Government, health boards and councils will develop plans to ensure good quality food is an everyday reality and that the way we produce, use and consume food is good for the environment. And, as with The Prince’s Foundation, schools are central to the plan.

Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, says of the Bill that the Government has been working on an extensive programme of measures. “Organisations can play a leading role in this process – looking at how they boost local procurement, cut down food waste and packaging, use in-season produce as well disposing of food waste in an environmentally friendly way,” she says. “But that’s not all. For example, wide-ranging food education can equip school pupils with the key skills they need to cook tasty, nutritious meals using the incredible array of world-class produce we have, but also to make informed food choices when they are away from home.”

Long way to go

In many ways, the ambition is huge, but charities like Nourish Scotland, which campaigns on food policy and practice, say there is still a long way to go. Food policy in Scotland, it adds, lacks a coherent and connected approach and it believes the answer is a nationwide plan for food covering every policy area, including health and waste. What’s more, the plan would need to be renewed every five years and scrutinised by Parliament. There’s no point in a plan if nobody is sticking to it.

It’s likely that Prince Charles himself would agree with those ideas. In his interview with the BBC last week, he revealed that his favourite car, an Aston Martin he was given for this 21st birthday, runs on fuel made from bioethanol derived from surplus wine and fermented whey. But the project at Dumfries House goes a bit further. Yes, there are things we can do now, but perhaps the best thing we can do is think about the people who come after us. Like the kids learning about Matilda, the food they eat, and the food they throw away.