AgFest

Milk comes from a cow, not a machine in the back of the store! Fifth graders are learning that and a lot more when they take part in CSU's AgFest. Mick Livingston, CSU Extension Agent.

LIVINGSTON: Several years ago I was judging some FFA speeches and realized that the kids had no idea what they were talking about, mostly regurgitating from articles and I felt it was time we get on the ball and get after it. AgFest is aimed at 5th graders so we try to give them a little background of what's going on in agriculture from an earlier age.

The students get a fairly well rounded look at the ag industry.

LIVINGSTONE: We have ten rotations with ag-science activities. Try to keep it pretty hands on. These kids rotate through those ten each day, it's a one-day thing for each kid. We do it from Trinidad to Holyoke basically. We've got one on pollination, we've got one on plants and bio-technology, we've got one on dairy and dairy science, one on embryology. We hatched about 600 chickens over the last two weeks.

Fifth graders aren't usually planning their working careers but Livingston says they show the kids what options there are.

LIVINGSTONE: We highlight some of the careers on posters around the room as they're going through. I think there's 30-35 careers. Hopefully we spark an idea that some of them might get involved in agriculture but the real intent is to hopefully they understand a little bit about agriculture when they start voting and vote with fact rather than emotion.

And that's Colorado Ag Today. I'm Greg Martin, thanks for listening on the Ag Information Network of the West.