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All life on earth depends on the soil.
That is just one of the lessons given today at the first annual Discovering Agriculture in Kosciusko County Day, held at the fairgrounds.
"Can anyone tell me what soil is?" Sam Sinclair asked a group of about 15 fourth-graders.
Sinclair, who is with the county Soil and Water Conservation District, got answers ranging from dirt to dead plants and animals. But he kept asking questions, and the kids kept offering answers.
Teaching kids about soil conservation was only one part of the agday project. Ten other presenters offered lessons on water quality, food nutrition and livestock to the 478 Warsaw Community School fourth-graders who attended the program.
Agday is the first project of its kind for the Kosciusko County Agriculture Awareness Committee. The committee, which has met since June, comprises area farmers, agri-businesspeople, educators and other volunteers.
The group formed to help promote a positive image of agriculture in the community.
With the county community becoming more urban the group decided to target the Warsaw fourth-graders for the educational effort, said Kelly Easterday, Purdue Extension educator. The group hopes to expand to a countywide offering next year, said Easterday.
"It's not going to be just a petting zoo, it's going to be a pretty educational experience for the kids," she said.
The kids spent eight minutes at each of 11 stations. Each station offered a specific presentation on an area ag issue, and each was packed with information, she said.
"We want to be proactive. We want these kids to have an opportunity to learn that their food does not come from the store," said Easterday. The pupils got a chance to see products as well as the animals that produce them, she said. They also received a packet to take home with information and activities for them and their parents.
The students got a first-hand look at agriculture from local farmers, agri-business leaders and the Warsaw High School FFA, who assisted in presenting the educational programs.
Some of the fourth-graders may have seen things that they hadn't before.
"People are over two generations removed from the farm," said Karen Lowry, Purdue Extension, 4-H and youth educator. "Grandma and Grandpa don't live on the farm anymore so you don't go visit them on the weekends, kids don't go spend the summers with them. So that whole understanding of producing food and eating what you raise is something that is becoming lost in our society," Lowry said.
Kosciusko County is the second largest agricultural county in the state, and number one in some agricultural commodities, she said. "It just makes sense that people within our own community should have a better understanding of what type of an agricultural base we do have in the county."
Lowry said residents need to know that agriculture in the community reaches beyond the more visible grain farming and pasture cows.
Maple Leaf Farms, for example, has a reputation around the world for what they produce and the way they produce it. "We have world leaders in agriculture right here in our own county," she said.
The Kosciusko County Soil and Water Conservation Disctrict was one of the many groups volunteering for the ag-education project. "Kids, any more, are so far removed from their ag roots," said Darci Zolman, SWCD education coordinator.
"It's just to let them know that agriculture is not just out playing in the mud with a piece of machinery. We want them to understand where their food comes from and what goes into producing it," she said.
