Students harvest knowledge about agriculture at Ag Awareness Days

OREGON — Ogle and Carroll County fourth and fifth graders descended upon the Ogle County Fairgrounds on Sept. 5 and 6 to harvest information about modern agriculture and its influences on daily living. Hosted by University of Illinois Extension, Ag Awareness Days ‘24 took 338 youths on a fast-paced, interactive, guided tour of science, engineering and technology that drive today’s farm operations.

Students engaged in 30-minute workshops led by a variety of agricultural professionals throughout the experience for opportunities to mingle with livestock, explore different ag careers, chat with a traveling vet, discuss basic biotechnology concepts, learn about different crops, navigate way points and discuss how much soil it takes to grow crops.

Participating classrooms represented Chadwick-Milledgeville School, Creston Community School, Eswood Community Consolidated School, Monroe Center Grade School, Oregon Elementary School and West Carroll Primary School.

This was the 22nd consecutive year for U of I Extension’s award-winning Ag Awareness Days program. It is intended that participants will think twice the next time they fry an egg, pass a cornfield-turned-subdivision, put on their leather boots, wrap up in a wool blanket, drink a glass of milk or eat a bowl of cereal.

Workshops included “Harvesting Honey,” “Doctoring the Barnyard,” “Ag Careers,” “Harnessing the Wind,” “Bite into Beef,” “Engineering Ethanol,” “Growing Up Grain,” “Horses on the Farm,” “Water..Pure and Simple,” “Insect Heroes and Villains,” “Going Whole Hog” and “Layers of Land.”

Many students reported they most enjoyed hearing firsthand the daily events of a livestock vet, harvesting honey and using a GPS unit to find hidden coordinates in a scavenger hunt. Students also had fun collecting fact cards at each of the workshop stations.