03/26/17 — Second graders will tour farm on Thursday

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Second graders will tour farm on Thursday

By Staff Writer
Published in News on March 26, 2017 12:00 AM

The annual We Dig It Ag Day for second-graders will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 30, at Odom Farming Co. at 1426 Claridge Nursery Road.

The event, sponsored by the Wayne County Farm Bureau and Young Farmers and Ranchers, was postponed from earlier in the month because of cold weather.

The purpose of the event is to try and bridge the gap between daily life and the farm, to educate children about how much agriculture affects their lives from the time they wake up in the morning until they go to bed at night, said Emily Odom, who along with her husband, J.R., own Odom Farming Co.

While on the farm, they will rotate between stations representing different aspects of Wayne County agriculture so that they next time they pass a hog house or cotton field they'll be able to make the connection between it and the food on their plate or the clothes on their back, she said.

"It's for all Wayne County Public Schools second-graders," she said. We expect 1,500 second-graders in two shifts that day. We also have between 200 and 300 volunteers including all of the high school FFA students.

"They'll see animals there including a pig, beef cow, and dairy calf. There will be observation bee hives and beekeeping equipment. There will be tractors and combines for the kids to look at. There will be plants there and pools of corn and soybeans that they'll play a game with."