You always hear the ongoing discussions about the state of agriculture in the United States, but one that events stands out for the industry’s future–FFA Day on the Farm. This annual gathering not only provides an enjoyable experience for young attend but also plays a crucial role in educating them about the significance of agriculture.
One reason that the day on the farm helps agriculture in Wisconsin and America is it teaches young kids about the importance of agriculture and what they do every day. Junior Summer Rake is the current FFA president, and she helped out a lot in running Day on the Farm.
“I think that most kids don’t grow up around animals and any ag industry. It is important to have kids get to learn and interact with the agricultural industry and see how big the impact is,” said Rake.
A second reason that the Day on the Farm really helps the agriculture industry is we do it every year so the kids that did the Day on the Farm when they get older will hopefully help us out to teach more kids about the agriculture industry. Connor Anderson, FFA adviser and agricultural teacher, organizes and looks over everything about the Day on the Farm. On the Day on the Farm, over 100 third graders come out for the day to learn about the agriculture industry, so that’s a good number of kids every year being targeted for this amazing opportunity.
“The goal is, to educate the public on where their food comes from, how it is produced, and overall give them a connection to agriculture. Every year it becomes more important to have an event like this as people continue to be more disconnected from their food,” said Anderson. “The average American is three generations removed from the farm, so we as agriculturists need to do our best to tell our story.”
A final reason is it’s really fun and always a big hit every year with kids sad to leave and eager to come back. We have two days in the fall where Lodi third graders get to come out and learn about the agriculture industry, and then we host Ag Products Day when there are fifth graders and they are always excited to be back. There is always something we can improve on every year, but we always focus on what went well that year. Junior Vivan Beld, Lodi FFA’s vice president, was doing everything she could to make sure the Day on the Farm went smoothly.
“One thing that could be better is mother nature working with us it was really cold last year,” said Beld “One thing I like is seeing all the little kids and teaching them about all the things they can do with Anderson and the Agriculture industry when they are older. One of the memories I remember was from the ice cold day on the farm where we handed out hand warmers instead of water or something to drink,” said Beld .
To sum up, these are some reasons to help out the day on the farm. The FFA hopes to see you helping with the day on the farm next year, Ag Product Day in the spring or even going to some FFA meetings!
