JEFFERSON – Over 850 first graders from schools throughout Ashtabula County gathered at the Ashtabula County Fairgrounds on Friday, May 8, for Ag Day.
Held by OSU Extension Office, Ashtabula County Farm Bureau and the Ashtabula Soil & Water Conservation District, Ag Day aims to educate first graders about where their food comes from and about the agriculture industry in Ashtabula County.
Every public school in the county participated, joined by home-school students and students from Christian Faith Academy. Some 230 volunteers helped with the event, said Amanda Barnum, OSU Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“We invite all of the first graders in the county to come out and experience agriculture – sometimes for the very first time,” Barnum said.
During the day, students visited different stations, sampling milk shakes, making butter, admiring a bee colony, learning about where their food comes, planting a tomato plant and more.
They also learned about livestock, fish, barnyard animals, veterinary medicine, soil and more.
“We want them to get a glimpse of what agriculture really is,” Barnum said.
She recalled one of her favorite success stories she heard from her predecessor.
A young boy from Ashtabula got to experience Ag Day and saw a beehive for the first time, Barnum said.
“He grew up and made it a career. He now is a beekeeper,” Barnum said. “It is one of our success stories.”
She said exposing students to agriculture is one of the great things about the day.
“To give that spark of agriculture. This is the foundation of our country, of our world. We feed people. We make things,” Barnum said. “We really get to show them a broad, new world today. That’s what our purpose is for today.”
Ohio Farm Bureau Federation Organization Director for Ashtabula, Geauga, Lake, and Trumbull counties Mandy Orahood shared insight on the Farm Bureau’s involvement.
With many kids being two to three generations away from agriculture and farming, it’s important to give them this exposure, Orahood said.
“We want to spark an interest in it,” Orahood said.
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