Ag Day, Taste Of Ag Provide First-Hand Look At Local Agriculture
Posted
Tim Robertson-trobertson@timesuniononline.com
Taste of Agriculture and Ag Day brought families and students to the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds Tuesday to experience local agriculture.
Ag Day featured tours through a kind of agricultural fair Tuesday for fourth-graders from area elementary schools. Students got the opportunity to learn about the beef industry with a steer standing in front of them, or to learn about the egg industry while holding a fuzzy yellow chick.The students visited booths where experts taught them about different agricultural fields including soil and water conservation, beef, chickens, ducks, farm safety, sheep, swine, dairy, crops, horticulture and 4-H.
"Why do you think I'm wearing this funny suit?" Janelle Deatsman, Maple Leaf Farms communications manager, asked a group of students.
Deatsman was wearing a white biosecurity suit complete with head covering. She explained that the suit keeps workers at Maple Leaf Farms from passing diseases or germs to the ducks they raise.
"We do lots of things to keep our ducks healthy," Deatsman said.
Mark Wise, of Wise Family Farm, said students are probably familiar with pork products they eat like ham or bacon, but, Wednesday, he told them about some non-food products that come from pigs including high-quality paint brushes, makeup and heart valves for transplant into humans.
Barb Bean is a fourth-grade teacher at North Webster Elementary School. Bean said she has been bringing her students to Ag Day for seven years.
"It's my favorite day of the year," she said. "It gets better every year."
Bean said her students benefit from the first-hand learning.
"For example, we talk a lot about soil conservation," she said. "It's something they're really going to deal with as they grow; we have the Tippecanoe River nearby. It's really meaningful to them."
Tuesday night, the event opened to the public for the Taste of Agriculture, featuring food grown in Kosciusko County and the Ag. Olympics. Event volunteers estimated between 1,600 and 1,800 people attended.
This is the 13th year for the event aimed at giving the community direct contact with the people and the industry that produce the food and many products they consume every day.
Families were able to watch demonstrations like sheep shearing and dental work being done on a horse, and ask questions of the agricultural professionals volunteering at each booth. Interactive booths were also set up, like a dog agility course set up for children to climb through and a "Plant Your Own Pizza Garden" booth set up by Kosciusko County Master Gardeners.
"They get to see that planting something can actually provide food for people," said Beth Gilbert, Master Gardeners president.
FFA chapters from Kosciusko County entered teams in the Ag. Olympics during Taste of Agriculture. Teams of 6-8 people from each chapter participated in five events including sack race, puzzle race, egg toss, corn hole and dress-a-pig competition.
In the dress-a-pig competition, teams dressed a baby pig weighing 30 pounds in baby clothing complete with diaper, onesie and bonnet.
The Warsaw FFA won the event, swiping the coveted Rusty Pitchfork award from last year's champions, Wawasee. Second place was Whitko FFA, third was Wawasee and fourth was Tippecanoe Valley.
