Author: Mattea Mitchell
Planning Unit: Hickman County CES
Major Program: Sustainable Agriculture
Plan of Work: Improve the stability, resiliency and capability of individuals through life skill development.
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, Hickman County had 246 farm operations on 118,474 acres representing 88% of the county's total land. Total value of crop sales were $56,171 and animal sales were $102,692. Hickman County is a predominately farming community with production of row crops, livestock, poultry, and hog barns. Our county also includes other smaller food producing farms.
The Grow It, Eat It, Wear It program focuses on several aspects of agriculture including row crop products, agriculture technology, poultry and swine production, agricultural inputs, and farm to table. This was the fourth time for this program to be offered in Hickman County and it proved to be a success yet again. Students totaling 119 from 3rd and 4th grades attended and participated in a rotational style setup of seven stations for a duration of twelve minutes each. Stations included Corn Grinding, Hands on with Animals, Agriculture Technology, Local Orchard and Strawberry Farm, Pollinating with Honeybees, Making a Meal with Inputs, and Horsepower.
Community involvement played a large role in the success of this program. Local volunteers brought equipment, animals and samples, and the local strawberry producer provided samples of fresh strawberries for the students to sample. Hickman County FFA students volunteered their time to assist with organization, setup and tear down, as well as teach a lesson on inputs that are used to create common household meals.
Teachers rated the program as a whole at 96% (58/60). This event was held at the Hickman County Farmers Market and fishing pond. The pond is stocked year round through the FINS (Fishing in Neighborhoods) program through Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife. 100% of the teachers noted that they would like their students to participate in this program again next year. Other comments made by teachers are as follows: "Great Organization", “Students loved it!”, “Great day! Kids loved it!”, “Excellent program!”, “All stations were very informative.” When asked how the program fits into the classroom curriculum, teachers mentioned "Science” (5), “Social Studies” (4), “Math” (2), “Reading”, “Standard” (2), “Listening”, “Speaking”, and “I can use animals to help students visualize space needed to fence animals to calculate area and perimeter.” The principal will again be adding this into the elementary school's program calendar for the 2019-2020 school year.
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