Dougherty County fifth-graders experience ag
Jul. 23—ALBANY — Albany Area YMCA third- through fifth-graders have a better understanding of how farmers grow their food thanks to the Georgia Ag Experience visiting their school recently.
The Georgia Ag Experience is a mobile classroom housed in a 36-foot trailer, which gives elementary students the chance to take a virtual field trip to a farm without leaving their school. Colorful farm photos, interactive technology and displays of products made from various ag commodities grown in Georgia highlight the importance of agriculture to their daily lives. The Georgia Ag Experience highlights Georgia's poultry, beef cattle, cotton, peanut, timber, horticulture, fruit, vegetable and pecan farms.
The Georgia Foundation for Agriculture created and maintains the Georgia Ag Experience classroom with the support of numerous Georgia ag organizations.
"Dougherty County Farm Bureau is grateful the Georgia Foundation for Agriculture selected our county and Albany YMCA as a stop on the Georgia Ag Experience's inaugural tour of Georgia," Hazel Masters, the county Farm Bureau Women's Committee chairman, said. "The Georgia Ag Experience classroom is a wonderful way to let students who have little to no first-hand knowledge of farming learn how farmers grow their food, cotton for clothes, or timber for paper and lumber.
"We appreciate the staff at Albany YMCA for working with us to host the mobile classroom. In the future, we hope to be able to bring the Georgia Ag Experience back to Dougherty so that other elementary students can enjoy this virtual farm tour. "
Students learned how farmers plant and harvest their crops, take care of their livestock and preserve the natural resources on their farms. The classroom also highlighted the many career options in agriculture. All exhibits and lessons that are part of the Georgia Ag Experience have been professionally designed to meet science, technology, engineering and math standards.
The Georgia Foundation for Agriculture is partnering with county Farm Bureau offices across the state to arrange local mobile classroom visits. Teachers or school staff interested in booking the Georgia Ag Experience for a school or community event should contact their local Farm Bureau. Only county Farm Bureau staff can book classroom visits with the foundation.
Visit www.gfb.ag/contact to access a local Farm Bureau's contact information. Visit www.gfb.ag/experienceplanavisit to access instructions for scheduling a visit and a list of dates the mobile classroom will be available across the state in 2021.
For more information about the Georgia Ag Experience and a list of the ag organizations, agribusinesses and Georgia commodity commissions that are supporting the mobile ag classroom, visit www.georgiaagexperience.org. Visit www.gfb.ag/GAEclassroomvirtualtour to tour the classroom.
