Baby Farm Day returns to Hickerson Elementary
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Wednesday marked the second year for the event, which was inspired by the old Farm City Day events that were popular in the county several years ago. The event has been aimed at teaching some of the Coffee County’s youngest students about agriculture.
“We are trying to teach the kids about where their food comes from, which is vitally important,’ AG Extension Agent Amy Willis Prince said during the event.
The day featured several different activities manned by volunteers from UT/TSU Extension, Farm Bureau, FFA, CCCHS Culinary Arts Program, Crimson Clover Master Gardeners, USDA Soil and Water Conservation District, Tri-Green Equipment, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Old Stone Fort and several local farmers.
“So we are talking about dairy products, we are going to talk about vegetables, every child is going to plant a pumpkin and they are hopefully going to enter that in the Coffee County Fair,” Prince said.
Members of Coffee County’s FFA and 4-H organizations were on hand with a selection of livestock ranging from chickens to pigs, sheep and even a horse.
FFA Advisor Josh Barnard said elementary aged students are a good age to begin learning the basics of farming and agriculture.
“They need to know about the agriculture industry,” he said. “They need to know about where their food comes from, whether it is plant or animal.”
Barnard said there are several ideas and projects that can be useful for teaching elementary aged students about agriculture.
“Most of them don’t grow up on a farm,” Barnard said. “Most families are at least three generations removed from the farm and so we have a lot of kids here who maybe have never seen a live farm animal in their life.”
“It is a really, really good thing for the kids to see this,” he added.
Sophomore FFA member Brayden Kesling said he enjoys being able to participate in events that help educate others about agriculture.
“I think a lot of these kids don’t know all of this stuff and they will never know in today’s world and I think it is important to know how all their food is raised and where it comes from so that one day they may have something to do with it,” Kesling said.
Prince said there are plans to bring Farm City Day back to the Coffee County community for 2025.
“We have got some plans to do that,” she said. “We are not quite sure if we will do school groups the first year or just do like a Saturday where everybody can come, but we are planning to have one in 2025, probably at the fairgrounds.”
