CAFNR
Week Family Agriculture Day
Lindsey
Benne, posted Sept. 26, 2006
With
a freshly painted octopus on her cheek and a chia pet in hand,
Heather Edmiston, along with many other children ages 4 through
12 walked with their parents from booth to booth at Family
Agriculture Day. The new community outreach event held Sunday
is part of CAFNR Week 2006. The event was held at Trowbridge
Livestock Center on the MU campus by the 2006 CAFNR Week Steering
Committee.
“In past years, the CAFNR Week Steering Committee hosted
two events, one for community service and one for education,”
said Christine Tew, education/community service co-chair.
“This year, we combined those activities to really reach
out to Columbia residents. We wanted to encourage more community
involvement with an open-house style weekend activity.”
Family Agriculture Day consisted of organizations from CAFNR
educating community members on the importance of agriculture.
“This was an opportunity for individuals to ask questions
and try new activities while relating their daily activities
to agriculture,” Tew said.
The Collegiate Farm Bureau club asked the children to “Thank
a Farmer” as they learned where pizza came from. “We
are trying to teach the kids that even their favorite foods
come from farmers,” said Nicki Busdieker, Collegiate
Farm Bureau member. “We want the kids to realize that
there are more people involved than just the man they see
in the back of the pizza shop tossing pizzas.” The club
had participants match the ingredients of a pizza to where
they came from. Starting with the crust of a pizza which comes
from wheat and working their way up to the hamburger topping
that comes from beef cattle. The club then handed out slices
of pizza to community members and provided face painting to
the children.
Another booth included the Agriculture Economics club instructing
the children on how to make their very own “soil baby.”
Using Styrofoam cups, soil, and seed, kids where able to construct
their own miniature chia pet to take home and watch grow.
Sigma Alpha demonstrated how to make homemade ice cream and
then provided vanilla ice cream. “I ate ice cream and
then I got my face painted with an octopus,” said Edmiston,
as she and her mom walked along the path to the farm animals.
Participants in Family Agriculture Day were allowed to pet
a calf and two piglets at the Block and Bridle booth as they
learned facts about beef at the Collegiate Cattlewomen’s
booth. Parked in the Trowbridge Livestock Arena was an assortment
of tractors and farm equipment for the children to explore
provided by the Agricultural Systems Management Club.
The committee for Family Agriculture Day began preparing for
the event this past spring. “The CAFNR Week Education
and Community Service Committee began contacting clubs in
early April, and the majority of the details were confirmed
before finals week in May,” said Tew. Their biggest
challenges where staying in contact with the clubs and designing
a path through out Trowbridge Livestock Center for the visitors
to follow.
CAFNR students, staff and faculty were asked to bring two
canned food items as a suggested entrance fee. The donations
go to the Central Missouri Food Bank in Columbia and will
be delivered by the CAFNR Week steering committee.
“We were very happy with the turnout for Family Agriculture
Day, and hope to see this event become as much of a CAFNR
Week tradition as Skit Night and Barnwarming,” said
Tew. Additional Education/Community Service co-chairs included
Laura Chapuis, Megan Gallup, and Justin Lueck.
