CELINA, Ohio – MVP Dairy hosted 25 K-4 elementary school teachers from Auglaize, Logan, Mercer and Shelby counties during the 4th Western Ohio Ag in the Classroom Conference in early June.

The free event was funded through a grant and local sponsorship. Funds were used to cover the classroom activities provided to teachers.

Jill Smith, Ohio Farm Bureau senior organization director and member development specialist for the four counties, worked with colleagues from Cooper Farms and MVP Dairy to put the conference agenda together.

“We put together topics that we think are super timely, working with the curriculum standards that exist for K-4 teachers, and the basics they need to convey to their kids.”

Smith and her colleagues also look for agriculture-related topics they could develop a curriculum around or find experts to discuss an existing aspect of the curriculum.

“This year we’re talking about corn life cycle, life cycles of plants are a huge part of K-4 curriculum, and science,” Smith said. “We’re lucky that we have a local individual, Amanda Kohnen from Syngenta, who is an expert in those agronomy principles.”

The conference has always been geared to K-4 classrooms because Smith said it’s easier to align with the agriculture standards in the K-4 curriculum. That’s where she gets the most calls for Ag in the Classroom activities.

“After you get past 4th grade, the standards are a lot different, and it gets a little bit more difficult to integrate things,” she said. “There’s certainly science and other ways to do that, but we just have more resources for K-4.”

When looking for conference presenters, Jill relies on the network of people involved in the agriculture industry and those in ag education.

“That’s what we have concentrated on the last few years, finding local experts or experts in the ag field that we can connect them with,” she said. “Then, finding applicable plans and activities for students and for teachers to use with their students.”

Teachers earn continuing education credits for participating in the conference.

The day began with agricultural tours. Teachers had a choice of taking an in-person tour of MVP’s dairy operation or a virtual tour of Cooper Farm’s egg separation plant.

“We provided an alternative so they can get a different view of agriculture other than the dairy,” Smith said.

Following the tour and a discussion of basic agriculture concepts, teachers could attend one of four breakout sessions: Farm Tech Over Time-Past, Present & Future, Corn Life Cycle, Break Out the Beef Facts, and Agriculture Pathways.

The breakout sessions were spread throughout the day, so teachers could learn about all four topics. In addition, the conference featured a keynote panel and a literacy activity.

“This year, our keynotes are local (high school) ag teachers who are working collaboratively in their schools with their elementary teachers,” Smith said. “It’s another way of doing bigger projects or doing different projects that the older kids can mentor the younger kids on.”

Smith led the beef facts breakout session. She covered beef, beef education, the life cycle of a cow, and different uses for cattle. She also showed easy and inexpensive breakouts that teachers could use in their classrooms.

“It went well,” Smith said. “I’m not an expert, but I do some classroom stuff, and I’ve been able to find resources and talk to people and gather that stuff and be able to provide that back to my local teachers.”

Agriculture instructors Dillon Muhlenkamp from St. Marys Memorial High School, Deanna Wenning from Coldwater High School, and Sarah Heillers from Anna High School had a panel discussion on how elementary teachers could integrate agriculture programming at their grade levels.

“It was great to hear their approaches and then receive questions from the teachers,” Smith said.  “It was an opportunity for them to learn how to integrate and do programming with their high school counterparts.”

Teachers were able to choose from two books based on a demonstration and a lunch activity.

J&M Manufacturing, a farm equipment manufacturer in Fort Recovery, Ohio, did a demonstration on how drones are used on the farm, and teachers could choose the book: Agriculture Drones by Simon Rose.

The Pie That Molly Grew, by Sue Heavenrich, a book about how a seed grows into a pumpkin, tied into the lunch activity.

Smith solicits teacher feedback following each conference, and what teachers want most is concrete activities they can use to involve students in learning about agriculture.

“So many times educational programming revolves around someone talking to teachers all the time; however, be active just as much as their kids do,” Smith said. “If they’re experimenting, then they know how to do it when they’re doing it with their kids – we have learned to utilize the standards and use those to help them integrate programming into their everyday teaching.”

Smith has shared the Ag in the Classroom concept with Ohio’s other county farm bureaus, and she sees the opportunity for more teachers to get involved in ag literacy in the state.