 Logan County Farm Bureau, Lincoln Area YMCA and Logan County FFA
members will host over 230 students and 20 teachers at the eighth
annual Logan County Ag Education Day, which will be presented at the
Lincoln Area YMCA Activity Center, 719 Wyatt Ave., in Lincoln.
Sessions will be from 9 till 11:30 a.m. and from noon to 2:30 p.m.
Students and teachers will be welcomed to agriculture through
five "hands-on" stations that will feature soybeans, corn, dairy,
hogs and machinery.
Logan County Farm Bureau Women's Committee members and Lincoln
Area YMCA personnel will host and help staff the soybean station,
where the students will learn about soybeans and products that are
made from soybeans. This year's station will feature "soy-yer
dough," which is a soybean-based modeling clay that comes in 11
different colors and scents. The students will conclude their
soybean learning session by playing "Soy Bingo."
FFA members will be on hand to offer several demonstrations.
Hartsburg-Emden FFA members will discuss farm machinery safety
with the students, explain a PTO safety exhibit and then escort the
students outside to view and sit in the combine provided by Central
Illinois Ag of Atlanta.
Mount Pulaski FFA members will host the corn station, where the
students will make colorful, biodegradable plastic. Mixing corn
starch, water, corn oil and food coloring and then microwaving,
students will be able to see the possibilities of plastics from
corn. Students will learn firsthand from Logan County Farm Bureau
director-farmers what goes into producing a corn crop and how corn
is used in products we use daily. Grocery products containing corn
will be on display.
Lincoln FFA members will talk dairy facts with the students as
they make an ice cream shake-up. Steve Irwin of Beason will have his
dairy calf on hand for the students to view and pet. He will also
present information on dairy farming and answer questions.
Students visiting the hog station will be treated to filling
"feed bags" with candies representing corn, vitamins, minerals and
protein required to feed and grow healthy hogs for today's
consumers. Farm Bureau volunteers will explain how pigs grow and
will have baby pigs available to pet and hold. Fourth-graders
stopping by the hog station will also be treated to taste-testing
"pork sausages."
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Schools participating in this year's Ag Ed Day are Carroll
Catholic, Central, Chester-East Lincoln, Emden, New
Holland-Middletown, Northwest, Washington-Monroe, West Lincoln-Broadwell,
Zion Lincoln and Zion Mount Pulaski.
Students and teachers will be given take-home packets that
include six different ag magazines, provided by Farm Bureau's
Illinois Agricultural Education in the Classroom; farm safety
booklets provided by Farm Safety 4 Just Kids and ADM--Tabor
Elevator; and several other agriculture-related items.
Ag Ed Day participants are invited to enter the "Celebration of
Agriculture" essay contest after they attend the ag event. Essays
entitled "What Agriculture Means to Me" will be judged by members of
the DeWitt-Logan County Retired Teachers Association. Trophies will
be awarded for the top five essays.
The event is sponsored by Logan County Farm Bureau, Lincoln Area
YMCA, Hartsburg-Emden FFA, Lincoln FFA and Mount Pulaski FFA.
[Text from file received]
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