Diggin' on the farm
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on March 16, 2018 5:50 AM
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Rosewood High School student Owen Blevins, 17, holds up a pig so that students from Brogden Primary School can get a better look Thursday during the fifth annual "We Dig It: Ag Day" at Odom Farming Company. Blevins was one of around 150 Future Farmers of America that volunteered to educate second-graders from across Wayne County during the event.
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Carver Elementary School student Cassidy Bragg, 8, gets a high-five from Anna Girard, 16, a Charles B. Aycock High School FFA member volunteering at the "We Dig It: Ag Day" after answering a question about food categories.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Kelli Mitchell, 15, Bryant Najera, 15, and Aubrey Wooley, 15, Future Farmers of America members from Spring Creek High School, give a presentation about honeybees to a group of second-graders from Brogden Primary School on Thursday during the "We Dig It: Ag Day" at Odom Farming Company.
As many as 1,500 second-graders from around the county converged onto Odom Farms on Thursday as part of "We Dig It: Ag Day," an opportunity to learn about the important role agriculture plays.
This is the fifth year for the educational event, launched by the Wayne County chapter of Young Farmers and Ranchers and the Farm Bureau.
Students spent 10 minutes at each of the 12 stations -- from cotton and wheat to pigs and goats -- learning about where their food and other products came from.
Will Teague and Cory Nixon, students at Rosewood High School, talked about pigs, while in the nearby pen, "Wilbur" -- named for the character in the popular children's book "Charlotte's Web" -- was nestled beneath a dog pillow to stave off the cold.
"He's just a couple weeks old. He just got weaned," Nixon said.
"He was at a hog house with his mother and other piglets," Teague said.
Nixon began his presentation for the students gathered at his station. He asked what sound the pig makes, generating the desired answer. Then he asked if anyone knew what a mother pig is called.
"A warthog," one student called out.
"No, not a warthog, but close," Nixon said. "A mama pig is a sow, a daddy pig is a boar."
The biggest response came when Teague picked up Wilbur, amid "oohs" and "aahs" before letting the children take turns petting the pale pink piglet.
Gabriela Botzman, second-grade teacher at Tommy's Road Elementary, said her class had been preparing for the event in the months leading up to it -- they read "Charlotte's Web" earlier and have just started learning about measurements and quantities.
"Think about when you go to the grocery store and you get a thing of milk off the shelf. That's a gallon," she told her group. "A dairy cow can make that much milk each day."
As excitement of being on the working farm was building, the educator said she expected it to continue long after they left.
"We'll have to talk about everything this afternoon," she said with a smile.
At the "Diagram of a Honey Bee" station, Spring Creek High School student Lynsey Blackburn explained about the different types of bees and what they do.
Her classmates, Will McCollum -- who wore a beekeeper's suit and hat -- and Michael Holland said they had taken a "crash course" on the subject in preparation of the leadership role.
"Then we did our own research," Holland said. "We've got honey and a bee box."
Eastern Wayne Elementary School teacher Michelle Weatherford brought 17 students. Like others attending, they had been prepped for the occasion.
"We talked about the soybeans and the corn, how everything that's related to us is from agriculture," she said.
The educational opportunity was not limited to the younger students, though. Josh Singleton, FFA adviser at Spring Creek, brought 36 of his students to help, while other Future Farmer of America clubs also had representation from around the district.
They had prepared and studied in anticipation of the day, a form of "children teaching children," said Milo Lewis from the N.C. Farm Bureau, organizer of the event.
"We want the conversation to continue when they get home," she said.
As a takeaway, every child also left with a lunchbox provided by Smithfield Foods and the N.C. Department of Agriculture, with products and samples as a reminder of some things they had learned during the day.
Hopefully, the experience will also plant positive seeds that will take root in the future.
"We want them, when they ride by a cornfield to recognize that that is corn, and it feeds chickens," Lewis said -- adding the hope that those young minds will in turn make the connection the next time they enjoy chicken nuggets.
Jacob Hinson, a Rosewood High School junior, said he eventually hopes to become an extension agent so was enjoying the opportunity to work with the younger children.
"I think there's a lack of knowledge with upcoming generations about agriculture," he said, adding that he was encouraged by the FFA members and agriculturists on hand teaching about the subject.
Sam Jackson, representing the N.C. Department of Agriculture, expressed similar sentiments, as he shared with the groups about all the different products grown, raised, caught or made in North Carolina.
"This is our future here and the impression that we leave with these children here, it may not stick but I hope there would be a couple handful, something that'll grab them and get them into this industry," he said. "If we can touch some young lives here today, that would be wonderful."