CAMP HILL, Pa. — Elementary school students across Pennsylvania will have a chance to meet real farmers next week and learn how their food makes the journey from farms to their dinner plates.
It’s all part of Pennsylvania Ag Literacy Week (March 14-18), which invites students throughout the commonwealth to learn about the important role farms play in producing the food, fuel and fiber we rely on each day. Now in its sixth year, the annual campaign is organized by the Pennsylvania Friends of Agriculture Foundation, a charitable organization supported by Pennsylvania Farm Bureau that works to promote greater public understanding of agriculture.
“Fewer and fewer families have a direct connection to farming, yet all of us rely on farms daily,” said Pennsylvania Farm Bureau President Rick Ebert, who serves as the foundation’s chairman. “Ag Literacy Week gives students a chance to meet a real farmer in their community and learn about the hard work that goes into producing food for families to eat. The goal is to foster a better understanding of agriculture and the important role it plays in our lives.”
During Ag Literacy Week, Pennsylvania farmers visit kindergarten through second-grade classrooms in their communities to talk with students about their farms and read a book about agriculture, which is then donated to the classroom. This year’s book is “My Family’s Soybean Farm,” which details the day to day activities of a farming family through the eyes of young Alexander who lives on his family’s farm.
The foundation will also be hosting a live tour at Brown Hill Farms, a soybean farm in Wyoming County, PA. Classrooms across the state will be able to join the live event and see the working farm and how soybeans travel from the farm and are processed into animal feed at a working feed mill. Students will also see inside of our farmer’s tractor and how it is used to plant and harvest the soybeans. The program will feature a reading of “My Family’s Soybean Farm” by Ebert, a pre-recorded video of the feed mill and a live question and answer session with our farmers.
Learn more about Ag Literacy Week and the foundation’s other educational programs at pfbfriends.com.
–Pennsylvania Farm Bureau
