With a majority of today’s U.S. consumers three to four generations removed from agriculture, many do not have a good level of knowledge about agriculture and food production. Research shows that consumers know more about movies (40 percent), politics (45 percent), history (47 percent) and music (51 percent) than they do about food production (40 percent). The same research indicates that only 22 percent of Americans trust that the agriculture industry is transparent about its food production practices. (Sullivan, Higdon & Sink (2013). “Food Think: Building Trust in What We Eat. Plants are essential to the balance of nature and in people's lives. )

Trigg County 4-H Youth Development Agent partnered with Genesis Express for a week long Agriculture science summer day camp.  27 Youth and 8 volunteers met for 5 sessions on agriculture.   These session included presentations from local farmers, lessons on nutrition and exercise, and a bean growing experiment. We walked to the local farmers where the NEP assistant spoke to the group about healthy choices and they were given SNAP-Ed and Plate it Up! Kentucky Proud recipes along with a Chop, Chop magazine.  The youth were also able to help in the community garden planted by the 4-H Leadership club that is located at Genesis Express, and they were able to take home items from the garden to their families.

The goal of the camp was to teach Trigg county youth about agriculture in our community, and allow them to see the role that agriculture has in our daily lives.  We educated them on the different employment opportunities within the agriculture community.   

In closing statements made by the youth participant 100% of the youth learned more about growing a garden, farming, health, and nutrition.  Five youth indicated their desire to work in the agriculture industry in the future.