The Ag in the Classroom event returned to the Winnemucca Events Center on March 22, 2022. The voices of third grade youth filled the building after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid pandemic. The return of the event marked the 19th year it has taken place in Humboldt County.
The Ag in the Classroom committee started the planning process for the return of the event in late summer of 2021.
The committee worked alongside the Humboldt County Farm Bureau and the Humboldt County School District to coordinate the event for all of the third-grade students throughout the county. In the weeks leading up to the event, third-grade teachers throughout the county received “teacher bags” filled with educational agriculture resources.
The book, “How Did That Get in My Lunchbox,” along with an educator’s guide and various other ag related educational materials were provided in the bags.
The resources and lessons can be used by the teachers with their students leading up to and after the event.
There were fifteen agriculture stations at the 2022 event, led by a variety of adult and youth presenters from the Humboldt County area. Students were able to experience ultra-sounding of sheep and x-raying the leg of a horse at the veterinarian station.
They were able to learn about sheep production and products, got an in-depth lesson on potatoes, learned about dairy cows and dairy products, working stock dogs and poultry. Students were able to have hands-on learning at the tractor station and the Nevada Farm Bureau corn trailer, which provided a historical and interactive station about the history of grain and corn.
Students learned about mint and the many products made from it, how sod is grown, why and how fertilizer and herbicides are used and spread with a big spreader, which was provided by Simplot. Students visited the beef station and learned about the many uses of beef by-products.
There were goats to see and learn about and a livestock demo station where students got to brush and have hands-on time with the animals at the station.
We are very grateful to have such wonderful presenters and volunteers from all areas of agriculture in our community who are willing to take the time to share their knowledge and experience with the students.
The FFA and 4-H youth that help at the event allow the younger students to learn from the older youth.
The older youth presenters have fond memories of their Ag in the Classroom trip and enjoy helping to educate the younger students.
The positive feedback from the teachers, students, visitors and presenters that attended this year’s event has been wonderful.
Ag in the Classroom hopes to create a lasting impression on the students and connect them to where food, fiber and other ag related products come from and how agriculture plays a vital role in their everyday lives.
The Ag in the Classroom Committee, in partnership with the Humboldt County Farm Bureau and Nevada Farm Bureau Federation, look forward to the continued tradition of providing an interactive agricultural experience for the youth of Humboldt County for years to come.
The National Agriculture in the Classroom Organization (NAITCO) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)–Agriculture in the Classroom Team, support state programs by providing a network of opportunities to improve agricultural literacy — awareness, knowledge, and appreciation — among K-12 teachers and their students. State Agriculture in the Classroom programs are implemented by each state according to state needs and interests.
Depending on how state governments implemented their programs with the request from USDA in 1981, state AITC programs may be housed in farm organizations, private associations, foundations, institutions of higher education, or within governmental organizations.
