Success StoryClark County 4-H Agriculture Day



Clark County 4-H Agriculture Day

Author: Heather Cassill

Planning Unit: Clark County CES

Major Program: Agriculture 4-H Core Curriculum

Plan of Work: Horticulture, Livestock, Forages, Agriculture

Outcome: Initial Outcome

Kentucky is home to 85,500 farms, tied with Oklahoma as the 4th ranking state in the number of farms (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2012). The average farm size in Kentucky is 164 acres, compared to the national average of 421 (National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2012). Between 2007 and 2012, the Bluegrass State had a 6.7% decrease in the number of acres of farmland, which is the greatest percentage decrease any state in the country (Census of Agriculture, 2012). While Kentucky’s population is increasing, the number of people living on farms is decreasing. Therefore, the need exists to educate people, particularly youth, about the impact that it makes on their daily lives, as well as the importance of agriculture to the commonwealth. In 2014, Clark County 4-H was approached by a third grade teacher from the Clark County Public Schools to assist in hosting an Agriculture Day for their students. A parent had already volunteered their farm to host the event. The Clark County 4-H Program had been looking for an opportunity to host an Agriculture day for third graders in the county and immediately agreed to assist with this event. In 2014, 110 students participated in the event. In 2015, with the help of Gilkison Farms, the Clark County 4-H Program was able to offer the 4-H Agriculture Day to all third graders in Clark County for the past four years. In 2018, seventeen classrooms (411 students) participated. Students rotated through ten, twenty minute stations with topics and displays that included livestock, bees, horticulture and crops. The stations were facilitated by representatives from Gilkison Farm, KY Soybean Association, McCauley Brothers Feed/Alltech, Southern States/Cargill, Clark County Extension Staff, Kentucky Department of Agriculture, University of Kentucky Poultry Specialist, Clark County Master Gardner Volunteer, local Goat Producers and Southwest Dairy Farmers. Lunch and other resources were provided by money raised by the Gilkison and Reece Families at their "Harvest to Hand" dinner. The dinner was created specifically to raise funds for Agricultural Education in Clark County. Teachers were amazed by the amount of information and hands on experiences that were provided to their students and expressed how much the students and themselves had learned that day about Clark County agriculture and the animal production. Several students expressed that it was their first time to be able to touch the different animals and all were very excited and attentive for each of the guest speakers. Teachers stated numerous times that this was the best field trip of the year and multi-year participants said they learned something different every single year. Another success was seeing five of our Clark County 4-H Livestock Club members present at several of the stations. Over the past five years over 1,800 youth have been introduced to Agriculture on a hands on, true to life farm in Clark County.






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