Agriculture partners joined forces in a pleasurable and educational event for Paulette Elementary School students on May 15. This was the 25th Annual Farm Day hosted in Union County. The event is hosted at one of the county’s five elementary schools each year, in rotation, so that every student in the county gets at least one attendance.

Union County Farm Day was hosted by Union County Farm Bureau but with much conglomerated work from other agencies and individuals. Beginning at 8:30am, the more than four hundred students made their way to the greenspace by the baseball field for a day on the farm. The classes began by visiting the Farm Bureau booth, receiving a bag full of educational incentives to take back to the classroom for group discussion and individualized learning at home.

Students rotated through stations learning about agriculture, farming, farm products, and industry. The students were proudly wearing their “I Met a Farmer Today” stickers and some festively dressed in their overalls or boots. The UT Extension station focused on dairy education with nutritional learning and identification as well as milk mustaches for every child and a chance to milk a mock Holstein cow named Bessy. Union County Soil Conservation taught the children values in the lesson Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repurpose. With memorable items like a denim quilt and a juice pouch purse, students were enticed to encourage recycling in their own homes and classrooms.

Union County Farmer’s Market presented the progressive values of eating and shopping locally and taught that they have access to a local weekly farmer’s market from May through October in their own town. A few POPP Club (Power of Protein and Produce) vouchers were awarded to encourage students to bring their families to the market to explore local food and craft options, children’s activities, special events, and more. Local Union County 4-Hers led a Poultry and Pork Project lesson demonstrating many opportunities that 4-H offers to 4-12th graders and the importance of those projects in the agriculture industry.

Tennessee Division of Forestry was represented well at a very interactive station. Youth learned about types of trees, how and where they grow, how to determine ages and diseases, and much more. After the lesson, students had the opportunity to put their muscles to work using an increment borer to visually learn how to identify the age of the trees. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency was represented during the demonstration as well. Horace Maynard FFA was present with pigs, ducks, plants, and a favorite, bull roping, for the older students.

Ag education is important to and by the community for our youth. After all, Tennessee’s 65,900 farms comprise forty percent of the state’s land area (nass.usda.gov). Why not educate our children and communities on ways to become involved and preserve our land and its natural qualities to richen the future of the industry.