Agricultural education took center stage in Adair County schools last week as students explored everything from pumpkins and marketing to farm safety.
All In for Ag Education Week gave Adair County FFA members and agriculture students an opportunity to share what they are learning while teaching younger students about agriculture and the important role it plays in their everyday lives.
The week began with a presentation at the Adair County Board of Education’s monthly meeting. Adair County FFA officers Abby Maulden and Katie Kean explained the agricultural education activities available to Adair County students.
Adair County Middle School students also produced a video featuring Kentucky agriculture facts. The video encouraged teachers to use materials provided by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Ag Education and Outreach program to teach students about where their food comes from and how it makes its way to their plates.
The video was shared with Adair County teachers and published on social media.
Middle school ag students spent several weeks learning about pumpkins. They learned that pumpkins are cucurbits, studied the pumpkin life cycle and incorporated the 4 P’s of marketing: product, price, place and promotion.
Students added value to their product by dipping pumpkins in a solution designed to help preserve them longer. They also determined a discount to use after the original sale to help move the product faster.
For the “place” portion of their marketing lesson, students decided to sell the pumpkins from a wagon at school where people regularly travel.
Camp Arrow students took part in the week, giving them an opportunity to learn about pumpkins.
“All in for Ag Education is an awesome way to bring awareness to how important the agricultural industry is to Kentucky and Adair County,” said advisor Robin Hancock.
“In fact, the agriculture industry brings in over $103 million to our county each year,” Hancock said. “We really appreciate all of our community supporters and Adair County Schools for supporting agricultural education.”
The week also included Farm Safety Day.
First-grade students from Adair County Primary Center and fifth-grade students from Adair County Elementary School traveled to the Adair County High School FFA agricultural building to learn about farm safety.
Students rotated through stations covering tractor, lawn mower, ATV, sun, medical, water, fire and livestock safety.
FFA advisors Gabby Barnes and Brittany Smith helped lead the Farm Safety Day activities, along with community partners including Columbia-Adair Fire Department, Adair County Ambulance Service, Wright Implement, Ag Revolution, Adair County Farm Bureau, Progressive Ag Foundation, Green River Lake-U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Adair County Cooperative Extension Service and Adair County 4-H.
“It is truly amazing to see the impact Farm Safety Day has on both the elementary students attending and the high school students leading stations,” said advisor Gabby Barnes.
“Our FFA members really do blossom when they get to spend a day teaching kids about some of their favorite parts of agriculture and how to stay safe on the farm,” Barnes said. “I have no doubt that there have been countless tragedies avoided directly because of the safety instruction that the first and fifth graders receive from our students.”
The Farm Safety Day program has a history in Adair County that goes back nearly three decades.
The first Farm Safety Day was held in 1997 by Tony Rose and Debbie Cowan through a grant they secured. The event was held in Knifley on a Saturday, with students from Knifley Grade Center and Shepherd Grade Center participating.
Smith said the program is also part of her own childhood experience.
“I can remember participating in Farm Safety myself under the leadership of Tony Rose,” she said. “While so much of our world has changed, the skills that are taught and instilled in our Farm Safety Day are the same and continue to be.”
“This year my daughter was able to put out a fire with a fire extinguisher just like I did when I was her age thanks to this program,” she said.
“Our chapter is honored to be able to continue to help facilitate this program and prevent injuries in our county even though we may never know the true impact,” Smith said.
FFA students given the opportunity to lead the lessons, provides them with an opportunity to pass along knowledge and safety skills that can reach far beyond one week.
