HILLSDALE, Mich. — Aimed at teaching everything agriculture to every fourth-grade student in Hillsdale County, the Hillsdale Agriculture Council recently invited 575 students to the county fairgrounds for Rural Education Day, also known as Project R.E.D.

“Every fourth-grader in the county, with the exception of two small private schools, participated,” said event coordinator Sarah Dillon. “We have about 65 volunteers who are doing everything from presenting to assisting and setting up.”

Developed by Farm Bureau, Project R.E.D. is designed to teach students about agriculture. Complete with curriculum for the teachers to use before students arrive at the event, the program details livestock production, crop production, conservation and farm safety.

As the kids and their teachers descended on the fairgrounds, they were put into groups and had the opportunity to visit several educational stations. The learning stations included watching a sheep shearing demonstration while learning the reasons behind it and the uses for wool.

Dr. Justin Kieffer, a local large animal veterinarian of the Countryside Veterinary Clinic, taught about his role in animal agriculture and had his truck on-site so youth could get a peek at the various equipment and medicines he uses on a daily basis.

Local Jersey breeder Britney Lewis of Jerome visited with students about the nutrient cycle of the dairy cow, with the assistance of Marv and Jan Sober of J&M Dairy Equipment, Hillsdale – all while the kids snacked on string cheese.

Bart Marshall conveyed the importance of farm safety, and that farmers care about the land and the consumer. The conservation lesson continued at the Dirt Pizza station, where kids learned that pizza ingredients actually begin from dirt.

Another station capitalized on the Great Lakes-Great Diversity, where youth were shown the different foods produced in Michigan, and that Michigan is one of the few states with so much diversity in agriculture.

The support for Project R.E.D. came from different directions. The educators were enthused about the field trip; as Dillon explained, “We thought we would have problems with busing and I was ready for the gambit of issues. Our goal was to get half the schools in Hillsdale County to come and within two weeks, we had all of them coming.”

Support from the agricultural community was equally apparent, with volunteers coming from agribusinesses, the Hillsdale County Farm Service Agency and local farms. In addition to volunteer support, funding from local ag businesses was a bonus, as they covered the cost of the entire day. And the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds extended the use of its buildings at no charge.

On their way out, each student and teacher was given a free T-shirt that said “Farmers Care,” a bag full of materials from the different commodity groups and a pine seedling to plant when they got home.

Dillon concluded, “We will send out a survey to the teachers to get their reaction on our presentations, and we look forward to another successful Project R.E.D. in the future.”