“My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, and a preacher but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.” -Brenda Schoepp.

Farm Day is long standing program in Christian County 4-H that is provided to all first-grade students in the Christian County Public School System, Private Schools, and Homeschool. For the 2018 Farm Day a total of 348 students and 22 teachers attended one of the two days offered and represented 10 of the 11 elementary schools found in Christian County. On the second day of the event an open house was offered to those whose schools were not able to attend due to an unforeseen day of no school. As a result of the open house an additional 32 adults attended the open house with children indicated in the number of total students. Out of 281 students that indicated their demographic residence, 41% indicated living in a rural setting with only 9 students declaring that they reside on a farm.

According to the Kentucky State Data Center, in the 2010 decennial census 69% of the population in Christian County reside in an urban setting while 31% are rural.  As a result, many of the youth in Christian County have not experienced a farm and do not know where their food comes from. In 2018, Farm Day was revamped to meet this need. Stations were designed to educate students on food products and/or services that come from each animal or grain. As the participants traveled through each station, the group leader collected an item that represented their station. After visiting each station, the student visited the “Farmer’s Market” where they learned about MyPlate and eating healthy. Along with learning where their food comes from, many of the adults and students learned about the agriculture resources that are found in Christian County, like the ethanol plant for instance.

To make Farm Day 2018 possible, a total of $3,000 was donated by local businesses and organizations in order to purchase supplies and t-shirts for all of the volunteers. Each student was provided a goodie bag filled with items that were donated by Kentucky Pork Producers, Christian County Master Gardeners, Kentucky Soybean Board, Kentucky Beef Council, and Kentucky Farm Bureau.