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October 11, 2007

AG Encounter

By DEBBIE WACHTER MORRIS

dmorris@ncnewsonline.com



Lawrence County fourth-graders were amazed to learn that hens can lay eggs of different colors.

They learned that apples — not applesauce — grow on trees, and that beef cattle feed has molasses in it.

They watched a sheep being shorn, felt freshly clipped wool and yelled “eeeewww!” in unison, laughing as a Holstein dairy cow relieved herself in front of them. They learned that dairy cows can live 16 or 17 years and are usually 2 years old when they have their first calves.

Beekeeper Bob Travis of New Wilmington taught them how bees make honey. Barbara Nichols, a master gardener, told them that just about everything they eat contains soybeans, and that the United States, as the top producer of soybeans, exports most of them to China.



AG ENCOUNTER

More than 1,000 students from the eight school districts in the county were bused to the fairgrounds last week for a hands-on, up-close look at farm life.

They “oohed” and “aahed” as they petted a Holstein calf, and giggled as they touched the back of a 250-pound pig. A live rooster in a pen was a prop as they learned the life span of chickens and at what age poultry and steers become meat on their dinner tables.

They sat at rapt attention as Future Farmers of America students from Laurel, Wilmington and Mohawk high schools rattled off these and more facts at the various stations of Ag Encounter, an annual farm education event sponsored by the Lawrence County Cooperative Extension Service.

New Castle High School student peer leaders guided the youngsters to each theme station of dairy, beef, sheep, pigs, poultry, bees, soybeans, corn, soils, apples and vegetables.

“This is as close as some of these kids will ever get to a farm,” commented John Scott, regional director of the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

“Look around and see if any of them look bored.”



A GREAT IDEA

The concept was initiated seven years ago by Plain Grove dairy farmer Richard Kind, an extension board member of 40 years.

Kind and his wife, Blanche, have long been advocates of farm education. In the 1970s, they invited children to their house for “Fun on the Farm Day.”

For several years Blanche was chairwoman of the Lawrence County Farm Tour, giving city folks a glimpse of country life by visiting a variety of local farms. Some children, especially from the city, have never seen a live farm animal before, Kind said.

He and Blanche and their two sons, Dean and Dwight, milk 30 cows and have 275 head of young dairy stock on the farm they have owned since 1970.

“We talked about nine years ago about the negative things spread about agriculture,” Kind said. They included concerns about eggs having salmonella, the fear of cranberries causing cancer and the Alar scare in apples.

“We decided something should be done to show we have the safest and amplest food supply of any nation, comparable to the amount of income a working family has,” he said.



Getting started

Only New Castle students participated in the first Ag Encounter, and that year the extension board received a $1,200 grant from the department of agriculture for bus transportation.

That was the only year for the grant, but the program has continued strong ever since. The school districts now provide their own busing.

“Every classroom in Lawrence County’s fourth grade is here this year,” Kind said. He explained fourth grade was chosen as the best age for comprehension.

According to Janice Alberico, Lawrence County extension director, First National Bank and the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau were co-sponsors of the event, and the county fair directors donated use of the fairgrounds.

Each student received an ice cream sandwich to top off their packed lunches.

Teachers were given curriculum so they can take agricultural education back to their classrooms, Alberico said.

Among the highlights was a visit from Dennis Wolff, Pennsylvania secretary of agricultural, who stopped at the fairgrounds en route to another county and was pleased by what he saw.

“It’s certainly successful, by any standard, just to see that many children, with that many learning stations teaching them about agriculture today.”

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