ALBANY — With over 4,000 dairy farms and ranking fourth nationally as the largest producer of milk, the dairy industry is vital to New York State. With the start of June Dairy Month, New York Agriculture in the Classroom (NYAITC) excitedly announces an awarded grant of $450,000 from the New York State Dairy Promotion Order to facilitate a pilot program for increased dairy education. The grant will directly impact seven county Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) programs, with the potential to reach 90,000 students. Through the project students will be able to understand and communicate the source and value of New York State dairy products and the related industries, meet curricular goals, and increase dairy consumption through experiential learning-based projects and lessons during the formal school day.
The New York State Dairy Promotion Order (NYSDPO) is a division of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets and was established to promote the consumption of New York milk and dairy products. Milk producers pay 15 cents per hundredweight of milk produced for dairy promotion. The NYSDPO retains 10 cents, and the remaining 5 cents is used for national program activities. The NYSDPO Advisory Board, comprised of New York State dairy producers, advises and recommends to the Commissioner of the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets how the funds are spent.
CCE integrates agriculture and education to promote agricultural literacy across their counties through youth and community-based programs in formal and informal classrooms. The county CCE programs participating in this pilot year include Broome, Madison, Monroe and Livingston, Nassau, New York City and Washington, St. Lawrence, and Wyoming. The counties will be supported by NYATIC with resources, education, and lesson plans, including virtual field trips, virtual learning tools, and dairy products. With these tools, CCE AITC educators will use their ingenuity, experience, and unique regional perspectives to engage students in instruction through their school and teacher partnerships. NYAITC will also strive to foster a spirit of collaboration between the participating CCE programs so that ideas can be developed, shared, and improved upon.
The dairy community in New York is vibrant and has a strong commitment to students and schools across the state. Directly funded by New York’s dairy farmers, it is the mission of NYAITC and the participating county CCE programs to spread awareness and education creatively and innovatively about dairy production and systems for increased student engagement and knowledge about the essential industry.
Visit the New York Agriculture in the Classroom website at www.agclassroom.org/ny to learn more. New York Agriculture in the Classroom is a partnership of Cornell University, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York State Education Department, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and New York Farm Bureau. New York Agriculture in the Classroom fosters an awareness, understanding, and appreciation of our food and fiber system.
–New York Agriculture in the Classroom
For more articles out of New York, click here.