Local students participate in ‘Ag Day’

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September 28, 2012

Local students participate in ‘Ag Day’

Jo Anne Embleton Jacksonville Daily Progress The Jacksonville Daily Progress Fri Sep 28, 2012, 08:20 AM CDT

JACKSONVILLE — At first, fourth-grade students attending a Sept. 27 Cherokee County Farm Bureau Fall Ag Day were hesitant to get near Plum, an Alpine milk goat.

Then owner Terri Luke told youths that her goat had reservations about them as well.

“You know how most of you have never seen a goat? Well, Plum has never seen a bunch of children, either,” she reassured them. “She doesn't bite, she doesn't kick, she just like to lick (people).”

By the end of her presentation, they couldn't get close enough.

Luke's station was one of several set up at the Texas A&M Forest Service center outside Jacksonville as part of a program established more than a decade ago by the county bureau as a way to educate fourth-graders from throughout the county about some of the goods they consume.

According to farm bureau secretary Tara Hoot, two Ag Day programs are held each year. In the spring, students from Alto, Wells and Rusk school districts are invited to attend, while the fall event caters to Jacksonville and New Summerfield students.

Several stations are set up on the grounds, and presenters have 12-15 minutes to share information. This year Plum represented Poppa Skinny's Farms, an organic family farm near Dialville that practices sustainable agriculture. There also were representatives from Southwest Dairy, the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service and the state forest service.

“We want to reach out to the kids and teach them more about these kinds of things,” Hoot said. “They really seem to enjoy it, and we make up goodie bags for their teachers to distribute, with materials they read and other items.

Thursday's event, held in two sessions, drew an estimated 350 children.

“We have some who can answer the questions (posted by presenters), to other kids, it's something new, so we get a good response from them,” Hoot said.

Jodi Goff, a field representative with Texas Farm Bureau, has participated in the program for the past 12 years.

Over the years, “We've tweaked the program and changed it around each year to meet the needs of teachers and students,” she said. “It has grown over the years, because the population is growing. We definitely see a rise in numbers of students each year.”

The goal is to take familiar information and present it in a whole new way to students, she said.

“We usually talk about food and fiber, and where those items come from. And we talk about the different regions of Texas, and where we're able to grow those things. For example, we tell them that here in East Texas, we are unique compared to a place like West Texas, because we have the forest service, and those representatives will give talks about fire, and trees and wood products.”

Grant Thedford, a forest service resource specialist from Jacksonville, has been part of the program since 2007.

His presentation featured information about trees, and he described a method of determining a tree's age by counting rings inside the trunk.

As he showed a cross-cut section of a small trunk, one young boy commented about his grandfather recently having to cut down trees to help them.

Nodding, Thedford answered, “Sometimes, we have to do that. We have to cut down certain trees to allow others to grow in a healthy way.”

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Local students participate in ‘Ag Day’

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