Farm Bureau celebrates National Ag Day/Week

By Emily Hanlin
Winnebago-Boone Farm Bureau Ag Communications Assistant
STATELINE – Tuesday, March 15 was nationally recognized as National Ag Day. It’s a day to acknowledge and celebrate the plentiful abundance of products provided by agriculture.
Each year, farmers, agricultural associations, and many others recognize the contributions of the agricultural industry.
National Ag Day falls during National Ag Week, March 13 through March 19. The Agriculture Council of America hosts the campaign on a national level.
However, the awareness efforts in local communities are just as important as the national promotions.
According to agday.org, “Ag Day is about recognizing – and celebrating – the influence of agriculture in our everyday lives. The National Ag Day program encourages every American to: Understand how food and fiber products are produced, Value the essential role of agriculture in maintaining a strong economy, and Appreciate the role agriculture plays in providing safe, abundant and affordable products.”
Agriculture provides almost everything we eat, use and wear on a daily basis. Too few people truly understand how large of a role this industry really plays. This is particularly the case in our schools, where students may only be exposed to agriculture if they enroll in related vocational training.
By building awareness, the Agriculture Council of America is encouraging young people to consider career opportunities in agriculture.
In our local counties, the Winnebago-Boone Farm Bureau has a similar mission: Be the voice, resource, and advocate for farm families and agriculture, while promoting stewardship for today and future generations.
The Farm Bureau has implemented the Agriculture in the Classroom program to enforce their goal of inspiring interest in agriculture in our local youth. To do this, they bring agriculture into elementary and middle school classrooms and provide hands on learning focused on the agriculture industry.
The Ag in the Classroom program, along with the Discovery Center Museum, celebrated National Ag Day early with their Ag All Around Us event. This occasion which allowed families to create crafts, pet farm animals, play games, and climb aboard real farm equipment was a huge success.
On March 15, Winnebago-Boone’s Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) Coordinator, Diane Cleland, and Agriculture Educator, Emily Newcomer, will be celebrating with their adopted classroom.
The Adopt a Classroom program has been in place for three years. This year, they have adopted Ms. Crespo’s and Mrs. Stewart’s classes at Nashold Elementary School. The AITC program goes into these classrooms once a month and educates students on various aspects of the agriculture industry.
On National Ag Day, students will be learning how every ingredient in a pizza comes from the farm, have an opportunity to pet a real farmyard animal, and the teachers will be receiving Ag Day T-shirts.
Each American farmer feeds more than 144 people … a dramatic increase from 25 people in the 1960s. Quite simply, American agriculture is doing more and doing it better.
As the world population soars, there is an even greater demand for food and fiber produced in the United States.