Most educators will agree the fastest way to engage students is to give them opportunities for hands-on learning, and what better way to incorporate hands-on learning than with agriculture.

To encourage educators to implement agriculture lessons in their classrooms, the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation State Women’s Leadership Committee hosts a minimum of two Agriculture in the Classroom workshops each year. The workshops provide teachers and volunteers with resources to educate students about agriculture.

“So many people do not know where their food, fiber, and shelter comes from,” State Women’s Leadership Committee Chair Betty Mills said. “Our teachers are such an important part of educating students on that information. They spend the most time with our children and grandchildren every day, so it’s important for us to give them agriculture resources to use in the classroom.”

This year’s first AITC workshop took place in central Mississippi. Attendees gathered at the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation building in Jackson for the first day of the workshop where they heard from numerous speakers who shared activities to incorporate in their classrooms.

Mize Attendance Center high school biology teacher Shelly Freeman believes there are an array of ways to integrate agriculture in the classroom for all grade levels.

“I grew up on a farm and currently live on a farm in Smith County, so I feel like I need to utilize my background to teach those who may be farther removed from agriculture,” she said. “I attended this workshop to learn different ways to do that.”

During the second day of the workshop, the attendees traveled to farms in central Mississippi to discover more about the day-to-day life of farmers and ranchers. The first stop consisted of a visit to the Mississippi Agriculture & Forestry Museum to learn about the history of agriculture and how it has evolved.

From there, the tour traveled to Canton to visit Sumrall Farms. Jerry, John, Jeff and Jeremy Sumrall own the 2,500 acres the family has been farming since 1963. Several members of the Sumrall family talked to the workshop attendees about their operation during the visit.

After lunch at The Gathering at Livingston, the tour traveled to Bozeman Farms in Flora. Bozeman Farms raises cattle and grows cotton and corn. Bozeman Farms Cattle Operations President Dudley Richard “D.R.” Bozeman presented to the group. He talked about cattle nutrition, breeding, genetics, beef and more before answering questions.

Catherine and Tiffany Ramsey, sisters who both serve as librarians in the Noxubee County School District, wanted to expand their knowledge of agriculture so they can explain to their students how farmers produce food, like the beef raised at Bozeman Farms.

“In today’s time, learning as become so digital,” Tiffany Ramsey said. “As educators, I think we can forget to implement hands-on learning, like agriculture science. I think this has been a great reminder that we shouldn’t leave that component of teaching and learning out of our classrooms. This has been a wonderful opportunity to learn information we can bring back to our schools.”

Freeman agreed with Ramsey, stating that she hopes to start a garden at her high school this year.

“Genetics is a big piece of my biology class,” she said. “I feel like a garden could help teach biology principals, like pollination, so I would like to implement one into my lessons.”

To conclude their tour, the workshop attendees visited McKey Farm in Edwards to learn about vermicomposting and greenhouses and Gaddis Farm in Bolton to learn about cotton production.