By Gerri Miller
Staff Writer
More than 400 students from five Autauga area schools learned the importance of agriculture to the economy and the community at the 2021 Farm City Day held at the R.H. Kirkpatrick Agricultural Arena in Autaugaville today.
Farm City Day is an educational field trip sponsored by the Autauga County Extension Service. Darrue Sharpe, Autauga County Extension Coordinator, said she has gotten great feedback from the students, volunteers and teachers who participated. “It’s an exciting year with so many Auburn University departments participating,” she said.
Five schools participated in the event this year, including Autaugaville School, Billingsley School, Prattville Intermediate School, Prattville Christian Academy and Autauga Academy. The sixth graders revolved in groups around 12 different stations that reflected many areas of the agriculture industry.
Alabama 4H’ers asked the groups questions about cows and taught they what they are fed and what the byproducts are from cows. Jacob, 11, a sixth grader who attends Prattville Intermediate School, said he learned about the different types of cows. “Some are specifically for dairy and others are for beef. I also learned a lot about catfish.”
Allyson Andrews is the owner of the company Wildly Blessed and a third generation farmer at the Double A Branch. She raises dairy and beef cows and bees. She said she wants the children to know where their food comes from. She brought with her an alpacaea and a honey bee frame.
“This is a lost art,” Andrews said. “Some of these kids think milk comes from the grocery store. I love to share with them all about God’s amazing creatures. I love sharing my many blessings.”
Matt Sorrells of the Alabama Forestry Commission gave the students a lesson on what type of products come from the forest, including their snack and pizza boxes. “I hope the kids have learned about forestry and wildlife and the proper values they should hold for those things,” Sorrells said.
The Auburn University College of Biosystems Engineers showed the students the high-tech side of agriculture. They brought an interactive trailer and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that they use to detect plants that are stressed in a farmer’s crop so that they can help solve water and nutrient issues.
John Colquitt helps out with the Future Farmers of America (FFA) and brought a pig for a demonstration. He said pigs are a hard animal to herd, so he bribes them with marshmellows. He said pigs are a multi-billion industry that provide people with more than just pork. “There are so many vitamins and minerals that come from pigs,” he said. “Insulin can be extracted from hogs for use in humans and they are even used for open heart surgery patients.
Gail Greer, a teacher at Prattville Intermediate School, said she hopes the students feel an appreciation for Alabama’s agriculture industry since they have seen it from the ground to the table.
Madeline Jones, a substitute teacher at Prattville Intermediate School, said the students will benefit from today’s trip because it exposed them to the agriculture industry and explained some of the options it has to offer them in the future.
Auburn University’s Poultry Department brought chickens and chicks and played a video for the students that talked about chicken embryo development and how it takes 21 days for a chick to hatch. Auburn University’s Fisheries Department talked about growing vegetables in water and how it was much more efficient than growing them on land.
The Extension Service fed all of volunteers, teachers and bus drivers a boxed lunch. “We like to feed them and thank them for the work they did,” Sharpe said. Volunteers came from FFA students from Billingsley and Prattville High Schools, Greensky Farm Gives, the Master Gardener’s Club and Alabama Power Company.
Sharpe said the goal of Farm City is to create an awareness of the importance of farming and the vital role farmers play every day in our lives.
“Farm City provides opportunities for students to learn the different elements of agriculture as well as possible career paths in this area,” she said.
Presenters for the event included:
Young Farmers/Tractor – Drew Wendland, Autauga Farming Co., local farmer from Autaugaville
Charolais Cow and Café – Marie Downey, 4-H’er
Poultry – Dr. Ken Macklin and students from Auburn University
Pig – John Colquitt
Cotton – John Vanderford and Rudy Yates – Extension
Forestry – Matt Sorrells, Autauga Forester with Alabama Forestry commission and helper Don Armstrong
Composting – Master Gardeners Rose McCauley and Paula Seamon
Bees, Alpaca and Jersey Cow – Allyson Andrews
